


nakamaru yuichi and the power of love

by thunderylee



Category: Japanese Actor RPF, KAT-TUN (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magical Violence, Mpreg, Romance, side character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-09
Updated: 2011-01-09
Packaged: 2019-01-30 08:29:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12649875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: In his last year at Kimchi Kimochi Wizarding Academy, Nakamaru Yuichi thought that he would be learning skills to survive in the wizarding world. But as the holidays approached, all he seemed to be learning was the one thing magiccouldn’tcontrol – love.





	nakamaru yuichi and the power of love

**Author's Note:**

> reposted from agck. written for je_holiday 2010.

\\\1//

> Yo, my homeskillets,
> 
> Los Angeles is Fucking A. I’ve only been in this school for five minutes and already I’m super popular. There’s this girl, I think Koki would like her. She spells her name with a dollar sign, which is so pimp. We already have a study date for after class. She’s going to help me with my _diction_ , if you know what I mean. I look forward to it.
> 
> Please take care of Kame this year since I know that skinny bitch won’t read this. And Yuichi, don’t miss me too much. You’re the Big Nose on Campus now.
> 
> Until next time,  
>  Jin

Nakamaru Yuichi was lost. At just shy of eleven A.M. on September first, people bustled by every which way, heading to their respective destinations without a passing glance at the awkwardly tall young man who was laden with several suitcases and a broomstick. He’d seen stranger things at Shinjinku station in his almost twenty-one years of life.

Usually Jin was the one to lead the way. Akanishi Jin was younger than him, but in the same grade due to the way their birthdays fell. It had never been an issue before, given that the Japanese academic year started in April, but this school district worked on a different schedule. Nakamaru had ended up starting a year late because he had been born _three days_ past the deadline, which he might still be bitter about seven years later.

Now Jin was in America. He’d weaseled his way into studying abroad for his last year, and from the looks of his letter he was settling in fairly well for someone with barely passable English. Nakamaru would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous, but he had a hard enough time finding the right platform to board the train in _Japan_ ; he wouldn’t last a day in a foreign country.

Nervously, he looked at the display on his cell phone. 10:57. His mother would kill him if he had to take a plane to school, never mind that he didn’t actually know where it was. It was his understanding that the campus was located on some remote island in the Sea of Japan that couldn’t be seen on any map, and could only be reached by the special train that managed to cross the water without a bridge.

If Nakamaru had learned anything in the past seven years, it was that magic was a strange, selective thing.

10:58. This might be the first time that Nakamaru had actively wished his younger sisters were witches so that they would be here with him, helping him find the right platform. He could never remember what number it was, only that it always made Jin hungry for pie-

“That’s it!” he exclaimed out loud, oblivious to the odd stares as he bolted across the station and headfirst into the pillar between platforms three and four.

The brick seemed to hit him back, knocking him right on his ass while the passersby just shook their heads at the idiot who ran full-speed into the middle of a wall.

If his nose didn’t already hurt, he would have smacked himself in the face. Casually, he dusted off his pants and leaned a bit to the left, closer to the end than the center. He lost his balance as the pillar disappeared, sending him sprawling onto another platform where the train was getting ready to take off.

“Yucchi!” a familiar voice called frantically. “There you are, thank Johnny. Hurry up! We’re going to be late!”

Nakamaru could barely hold onto his luggage as a small but strong form dragged him through the door into one of the passenger carriages. It was a blur of green and blue and burgundy and gold as his vision was still returning into focus, swimming into passable replicas of his classmates with whom he’d been taking this train year after year.

“I knew I should have had you come stay with me,” Tanaka Koki was saying, more aggravated than exasperated, like it was his fault that Nakamaru had almost missed their train. “I forgot that Akanishi bailed on us this year.”

“He didn’t _bail_ ,” Nakamaru replied, rubbing his nose as he levitated his suitcases down the hallway. “He sent us a letter, by the way. His mail owl has diamond-studded sunglasses, purple feathers, and gold jewelry.”

“Not surprising.” Koki flung open one of the compartments and hissed at the group of first years who occupied it. “Out, brats.”

The scared teenagers scattered and Koki sprawled across their abandoned seats, looking smug.

“I’ll never understand how people are intimidated by you,” Nakamaru commented, purposely sitting on Koki’s legs as he flicked his wand to send his belongings neatly into the overhead racks. “Where’s your luggage?”

Without moving, Koki pulled three tiny boxes out of his pocket and poked them with his finger. Instantly, they transformed into full-size Bufu bags and squeezed in next to Nakamaru’s.

“Show off,” Nakamaru muttered, punching his friend good-naturedly. “Not everyone has an older brother to show them tricks like that.”

“You should learn shrinking charms this year,” Koki replied nonchalantly. He came from a long line of wizards, the second oldest of five boys, all of whom were known at the school and in the wizarding world for getting into trouble. With Koki, though, it seemed like trouble usually found him.

“There you are!” a cheerful voice sounded as the door to their compartment was flung open and Taguchi Junnosuke waltzed in. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys.”

“Clearly we weren’t hiding well enough,” Koki said dryly. Taguchi was in his year and it was obvious that Koki didn’t want to see him any more than was absolutely necessary. “I need to work on my concealment charms.”

Nakamaru lifted his arm for an awkward fist-punch. Taguchi grinned and flopped down across from them, folding his hands on his lap and eyeing them in turn. “So how were your summers?”

“Boring,” Nakamaru answered honestly. “Hung out with Jin and my sisters. Cruised the Internet. There’s nothing to do when you can’t do magic.”

“The Internet,” Koki repeated, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. “It still amazes me how your people actually need those metal boxes to communicate with each other.”

“Right?” Taguchi agreed. “Have you guys heard of Hoota yet?”

“Hoota is old news,” Koki replied. “Nobody but Maagu-lovers are interested in that shit.”

Nakamaru narrowed his eyes at the term for non-magic people. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that the Maagu advancement into social networking has caused more harm than good,” Koki explained. “Admittedly, I don’t know much about it because my family doesn’t have anything to do with Maagus, but it seems to me that having a spell where you can send the same message to anyone who will listen is counterproductive. What’s the point of actually hanging out and developing one-on-one relationships if I can just scroll through your Hoota to see what you’ve been up to?”

“I like it,” Taguchi said with a shrug.

“You would,” Koki told him. “I imagine it’s perfect for someone who nobody actually wants to listen to in person.”

Taguchi’s smile didn’t waver. “My eight hundred Hoota friends seem to disagree, but that’s okay.”

“Eight _hundred_?” Nakamaru said in awe.

Taguchi winked and lifted his wand. “Nakamaru-kun can be eight hundred and _one_ , if you want.”

Nakamaru was torn between Taguchi’s bright expression and Koki’s glare of disapproval, but thankfully he was saved by the compartment door opening and closing again. In walked the youngest of their group, who was just as stylish and pressed as he had been a few months ago when they’d parted for the summer.

Even after five years, Kamenashi Kazuya still looked nervous around them. He had been Jin’s friend first, the two of them inseparable until they got older and became more like rivals. Lately Koki had been taking more of a liking to Kame, which had Nakamaru feeling a little uneasy for reasons he didn’t quite understand.

“Hey, I got your hoot,” Kame said to Taguchi, who scooted over to make room for him. “They made me a Purii this year, so I had to do the initiation thing. Ueda is on his way.”

Kame’s Purii badge shone from his blazer, shinier than it should have been due to their youngest’s obsessive buffing. Unlike Ueda, Kame was actually pleased to be chosen as the male leader of his class. He deeply enjoyed things like order and rules, even if Nakamaru wasn’t too confident in Kame’s abilities to _enforce_ them.

Enforcing had never been a problem for Ueda Tatsuya. They all heard him roaring at a group of students to get out of the hallway before making his grand entrance into their compartment, his green-and-silver robes billowing behind him.

“I am so glad this is the last year I have to do this,” he announced as he sat next to Kame. “Fucking brats.”

Koki nodded his agreement, while Nakamaru gave Ueda a small wave. He’d always felt an alliance with the other man due to their ages being so close; being only a month younger, Ueda had also started wizarding school late. That seemed to be low on the list of things he was angry about, though.

The door to their compartment slid open once more, and five pairs of eyes turned towards the outsider with varying levels of distaste.

“Oh, right,” Yamashita Tomohisa said sadly, his pout making Nakamaru’s annoyance waver. “Jin’s not here this year.”

“I got a letter from him,” Nakamaru offered. He’d always had a soft spot for the man whom an old senpai had nicknamed ‘Yamapi’, despite belonging to different Houses. “He seems to be settling well at LAX.”

Ueda choked on air. “Did you say LAX?”

“Yeah?” Nakamaru replied nervously, searching his pockets for Jin’s letter even though he knew that there was no return address on it. Magical mail couldn’t be returned to sender; the owl would just nip at the recipient until they accepted it, particularly overseas ones.

“LAX is an all-girls’ school,” Ueda informed them all. “The full name is Los Angeles Institute of Witchcraft. _Witch_ craft. The boys’ school is called LAY. X and Y represent the chromosomes.” He punctuated his statement with a look that clearly added, “ _Duh_.”

Still loitering in the doorway, Yamapi shrugged. “Jin always did make a pretty girl.”

“Don’t you two hate each other?” Kame spoke up, his finger drifting lightly down his wand as he continuously refreshed his Hoota.

“Only when we’re in the same room,” Yamapi clarified, nodding like it made complete sense. “Without him, I have no one to compete with. It’s kind of lonely.”

“That’s kind of gay,” Kame replied flatly.

Yamapi lifted his wand, but four shouts of _Ekkusupirio!_ quickly disarmed him and sent him flying across the hallway and straight into the carriage opposite theirs. Nakamaru took it upon himself to get up and close the door, but not before he heard a jumble of Japanese and Korean. He ended up with a combination of both in his face.

“Puriis shouldn’t use disarming spells on the train,” Koyama Keiichiro reprimanded, glaring right over Nakamaru’s shoulder at Ueda. Kim Jaejoong stood next to him, looking menacing. “What kind of example are you setting for the younger students?”

“Say that to your Golden Boy,” Ueda shot back. “He tried to hex Kame first.”

Nakamaru, Koki, Taguchi, and Kame all nodded their agreement.

“I find that hard to believe,” Koyama said gently. “I don’t understand why our Houses have this indisputable rivalry, but this is my last year and I’m going to do my best to bridge the gap between-”

Jaejoong gasped girlishly as pink bubbles emerged from Koyama’s throat, blocking the rest of his words. Koyama glared at each of them in turn, but since none of them had their wands pointed at him, he couldn’t pin it on anyone. More bubbles spewed out as Koyama huffed at the four seated students, spun on his heel, and sauntered back to his compartment.

Nakamaru was left staring at Jaejoong, who gulped and tripped over himself as he rushed to join his Housemate. Now faced with an empty hallway, Nakamaru closed the door and focused accusatory eyes on Koki.

“Awesome, right?” Koki said with a sly grin. He lifted his feet so that Nakamaru could sit down properly this time, then dropped them right on Nakamaru’s lap. “Wandless magic comes in handy.”

Nakamaru just cleared his throat. “So did you guys want to read Jin’s letter?”

Nobody answered him. Ueda rolled his eyes and curled up in the corner to take a nap, Taguchi and Kame returned to their Hootas, Koki buried his nose in the latest issue of Witches Gone Wild, and, defeated, Nakamaru figured that now was as good of a time as any to get started on his Ancient Runes reading. That Professor Tablo was a demanding son of a bitch.

They spent the rest of the ride in comfortable silence, as they usually did when they were all together. They would have the whole year to interact, no need to start early. In past years, Taguchi would ignore this unofficial House code and keep trying to strike up conversation, but this year he seemed to be preoccupied with his eight hundred virtual friends.

Nakamaru had never before been so grateful for his people’s technological advancements.

\\\2//

> Dear Jin,
> 
> The dorm isn’t as cluttered without you. Koki in particular misses your “hot white skank” posters all over the walls. I told him that you were living the real thing now, and he said, “Pictures or it didn’t happen.” Please address them to him.
> 
> Everyone is the same as they were last year. On our first night back, Nino replaced our house flag with Kame’s boxers, and everyone made fun of him because they were perfectly ironed with cartoon turtles on them. Typical behavior from our Head of House. He says he misses torturing you, and don’t knock up any American witches. Their child support laws are fierce, he hears.
> 
> Oh, and apparently Meisa is dating Kato. I don’t get it either, but it means that our Houses mingle a lot. Yamapi keeps making snide comments about how this year will be great since you’re not here, but then he looks sad when none of us care enough to argue with him. You should write him and make fun of his hair. That would cheer him up.
> 
> Time for class! Seventh year is brutal. Doko wishes you well and says to not make our school look bad.
> 
> Later,  
>  Yuichi
> 
> P.S. Is it true LAX is an all-girls’ school?

The last class of the first day left Nakamaru physically and mentally exhausted. Professor Domoto Koichi’s Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons were always a workout. He liked to hex students at random while lecturing just to keep them on their toes. Jin, whose reflexes weren’t that great to begin with, usually ended up upside-down and hog-tied by the end of the lesson. When all of this year’s students countered the sneak attacks, Nakamaru could tell that his favorite professor was disappointed.

“Must you do that at the _dinner table_?” Kame was saying, turning up his nose to where this year’s Head Girl Kuroki Meisa and Head Boy Kato Shigeaki were sucking face right next to him.

Koki’s approach was more direct; the plates and bottomless bowls of steaming hot food jumped as he banged his fist on the table and roared, “No Guriffus at the Surii table!”

Meisa slowly pulled away from Kato’s mouth, licking her lips as she regarded Koki like one might regard a piece of dog shit on their shoe. “There is no rule that says we can’t sit together.”

“There should be a rule about PDA,” Ueda commented from the end of the table. “As Head Girl, you should know better.”

Meisa stuck up her middle finger at him and licked it with a curl of her tongue. Kato looked smug. Nakamaru looked away, not wanting indigestion before he even started eating.

“Nakamaru-kun,” Meisa drawled slowly, her long nails still raking through Kato’s hair. “You look flustered. Did you perchance just come from Defense class?”

The table erupted in snickers and Nakamaru could feel his face heating up. “I am not flustered.”

“Oh, give it up,” Ueda yelled loud enough for the whole hall to hear. “Everyone knows you have the hots for Professor Doko.”

Nakamaru wished that in addition to automatically refilling, magical plates could also swallow him up. The only thing that kept him from being completely humiliated was the absolutely murderous expression on Koki’s face as he appeared indecisive over whom to hex first. Koki was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice Kame offering him a sympathetic look from across the table. Nakamaru supposed that Kame, the insufferable Purii, was disappointed in Koki’s poor anger management.

For the record, Nakamaru didn’t have a _crush_ on Doko, exactly. It was more of a masculine appreciation. Domoto Koichi, insisting on the nickname Doko to avoid confusion between himself and the Divination professor, Domoto “Dots” Tsuyoshi (no relation), was graceful in everything he did. Even the way he cast his spells was reminiscent of some kind of silent dance. Nakamaru imagined that if Doko ever did battle, he would twirl and back-flip around his opponents, executing beautiful wand choreography while dramatically flipping his hair out of his face.

Okay, maybe Nakamaru had a little bit of a crush. Not like anything would ever come of it; he was a _professor_ and at least thirty years old. Ew.

“Don’t be such a hater,” Lee Chaerin chided Koki in English, narrowing her eyes at him just like she’d done for the entire five minutes they had dated last year. “If my homegirl wants to bring her man to _our_ table, _you_ have no right to tell her she can’t.”

“Thank you, CL,” Meisa said to her, and they exchanged a smirk of respect before Meisa returned to Kato’s mouth.

Koki slumped and folded his arms. “I miss Akanishi.”

Chaerin scooted towards him and grinned. “Akanishi is off banging American skanks while you’re stuck here, _still_ not getting any. Tell me, oppa, have you had anyone since me?”

“That’s enough, CL,” Ueda warned. “It’s only the first day of classes. Spread out your snark so that it lasts for the whole year.”

With one last dirty look towards Koki, Chaerin pushed herself up and returned to her crew of thug Korean girls. This included sixteen-year-old Gong Minzy who, in her first year, had made her legacy by developing a series of glamour charms that were equivalent to Maagu liposuction and Botox. It took Nakamaru a second to recognize Park Bom next to her, and he had to hold back his laughter as he watched them swindle Horikita Maki from Guriffu.

Feeling strangely proud of his House, Nakamaru turned his attention to the rest of the hall. Despite doing this for seven years now, it was still kind of surreal – the concept of magic as well as its education system. The four Houses within Kimchi Kimochi Wizarding Academy all had their own strengths: Guriffu were brave, Haffa were loyal, Reikura were smart, and Surii were cunning. There were stories behind each one, but Nakamaru had slept through most of Professor Sakurai’s History of Magic class and couldn’t recall any more than “old white people doing something awesome.” All he knew were the colors and mascots – burgundy and gold lions for Guriffu, yellow and black badgers for Haffa, blue and bronze eagles for Reikura, and silver and green serpents for Surii.

The whole House system was ‘borrowed’ from a legendary British school just like everything else in the Asian wizarding world, including the castle itself. That didn’t say much for their originality, Nakamaru thought, but given that it catered to mostly Japanese and Korean students, it was an apt comparison. The school had been purely Japanese until the Maagu Korean War had made it impossible for their own school to remain standing, combining the two student bodies into one, and there weren’t enough witches and wizards from other Asian countries to warrant having their own school. The few halfs and other Asian ethnicities in attendance were sorted into Reikura, which angered a lot of the full Japanese and Korean students because it implied that the non-Japanese or Korean students were smarter than them. So in addition to magical blood prejudice, there was racism too.

Sometimes wizarding politics made Nakamaru’s head hurt. As the only Maagu-born in Surii, he had endured a lot of discrimination in the early years. To this day, he didn’t know why he had been sorted there, with these other guys who were clearly more cunning (and evil) than he could ever dream of being. Even Taguchi was sneakily manipulative. Nakamaru couldn’t lie to save his life and was scared of his own shadow half the time.

Kato would declare to anyone who listened that he should have been sorted into Reikura, because the Sorting Fedora was clearly malfunctioning on their first day, so maybe it really had been a mistake. The Sorting Fedora wasn’t infallible; it had not once, but _twice_ sorted someone into two different Houses at the same time. To Nakamaru’s knowledge, Nishikido Ryo and Uchi Hiroki were still officially members of both Guriffu and Haffa. Kame, who was in Uchi’s year, claimed that it took two Houses to contain their giant egos. Nakamaru was inclined to agree, even if his few interactions with Ryo left him feeling that he was better suited for the Surii House than Nakamaru himself was.

Over at the Guriffu table, Koyama and Jaejoong were sitting up straight in their chairs with matching unimpressed expressions while the rest of their House cheered on Yamapi in an eating contest with the human garbage disposal and Nakamaru’s longtime friend, Masuda Takahisa. It was times like these that Nakamaru wished he was in Guriffu, because he would bet his entire summer wages on Massu.

Across from them, Moriuchi Takahiro and Kusano Hironori helpfully scooped more food onto the competitors’ plates, while Nagasawa Masami and Yamashita Rina (Yamapi’s younger sister) glanced over in interest from where they were charming a pair of friendship bracelets with animated hearts on them. Up at the staff table, their Head of House, Matsumoto Jun, looked envious.

The eating contest was overshadowed by the Haffa table, though. The Haffa students were probably the loudest and most boisterous kids in the whole school. They were just conversing about their classes and comparing summer vacations, but it seemed like every single one of their voices carried across the hall like they were screaming bloody murder at each other in Kansai dialect.

Murakami Shingo, nicknamed Hina for a popular witch he used to look like (“used to” being the operative phrase; now there was nothing feminine about his Neanderthal physique), had the voice that boomed the most. He also had a purple bandana tied around his head and one arm slung loosely around the shoulders of his girlfriend, Toda Erika, who was completely ignoring him in favor of flipping through a fashion magazine with her best friends Kitagawa Keiko and Kim Heechul.

At the table the farthest away from Nakamaru, the Reikuras predictably had their noses stuck in their books, sneaking a bite of dinner between every flip of a page. For the most part, anyway – Crystal Kay and Charice Pempengco were braiding Lee Taemin’s hair while Fujigaya Taisuke clearly had one of Koki’s porn mags hidden in his Arithmancy book. The mathematical components of magic spells couldn’t be nearly as interesting as his face implied, Nakamaru thought.

Seventh-year Reikura Purii Kitayama Hiromitsu hadn’t yet mastered the art of making his food into his mouth without taking his eyes off of his page, but his actions mirrored his Head of House, Sakurai Sho. The History of Magic Professor’s robe kept getting blotted by Haffa’s Head of House, Aiba Masaki, as he doted on his oblivious colleague.

On the other side of Professor Sakurai, overseeing the entire hall in the center of the professors’ table, Headmaster Ohno Satoshi looked like he’d rather be fishing. Or, more appropriately, he _was_ fishing somewhere in the depths of his mind. This wouldn’t be the first year that one of the other professors had to remind him to make the welcoming announcements.

Even at Nakamaru’s own table, Sawajiri Erika was making notes in her Potions book for her seventh annual attempt at drugging Nishikido Ryo with a love spell, which Nino had declared in front of the whole class (including Ryo) this morning would make her exempt from their final exams if successful. Koki was free-styling with Surii’s resident male Koreans, whom Nakamaru only knew by their street names of TOP and G-Dragon, and Taguchi had once again switched places with his doppelganger Shim Changmin from Guriffu. It appeared that Nakamaru was the only one to notice this, so he kept it to himself.

Watching them all now, Nakamaru became very aware that this was the last year they would all be together like this. Separate Houses or not, they had known each other since they were fourteen, and it would be weird not to see them every day starting next year. Particularly Koki, who still had another year of school and a secured spot in his family’s business afterward.

Nakamaru felt like had known Koki forever. He remembered it like it was yesterday – Jin had thought that Koki was a girl and Koki had put a curse on Jin’s hair. To this day, Jin’s hair wouldn’t stay any shorter than shoulder-length. Every time he tried to cut it, it grew back overnight.

Six years later, Koki didn’t look like a girl anymore, not at all. He kept his hair buzzed and his moustache just noticeable, his shirts sleeveless and his pants low. For a full-blooded wizard, he seemed to be up to date on Maagu fashion trends, even if he claimed that hip-hop style has been around in his world for centuries. Koki was one of the worst full-blood supremacists in the school, but for some reason he liked Nakamaru. He had even stopped using the derogatory term for Maagu-born wizards after he found out that Nakamaru was one, and no other Surii dared speak the word after Koki made an example out of Seungri their first week of school.

Nakamaru had known Jin longer than anyone, having been childhood friends from the Maagu world (Jin’s mother was a Maagu-born who married a non-wizard), but if he had to choose, he’d pick Koki to save from drowning in the ocean. While Jin was like a brother to him, Koki was… something else. Something _more_. The two weren’t even comparable in Nakamaru’s heart because there was no doubt that Jin was just a friend. The line between friendship and more was clear and not even in the distance.

With Koki, there was no line.

“You look depressed,” Koki said as he plopped down next to him, pulling him from his thoughts. “Are you missing Akanishi?”

“Yeah,” Nakamaru replied quickly, because he didn’t quite know how to explain the concept of missing someone who was right there with him.

\\\3//

> Dear Yuichi,
> 
> Happy birthday, you old man. I went to this party last night and there was this girl who reminded me of you. She had an argyle wristband and wouldn’t put out. Her name is Louise, but everyone calls her SOV. I actually think she likes girls, but whatev. British accents are sexy.
> 
> School sucks, but at least the spells are the same. What’s this about Meisa and Kato? That’s gross. I’m disappointed in her. Kato’s a douchebag and I doubt he goes down. She can do better.
> 
> I miss you guys. There aren’t any cool dudes here, just a bunch of hot chicks. Which is nice and all, but I need some _man_ time. You know. Maybe I’ll come home for Christmas or something. We can get trashed on spiked eggnog and bust out some Exploding Spades by the fireplace. Just like good old times.
> 
> Tell those assholes to write me,  
>  Jin
> 
> P.S. Now that you mention it, I was wondering why I was the only dude here. My dormmates don’t seem to be bothered by it, though. ;) ;)

Nakamaru woke up the morning after his twenty-first birthday in an unfamiliar common room with a headache and a very firm stomach as a pillow. The last thing he remembered was Massu presenting him with a cake, then Yamapi had cast some spell that made an explosion of pretty colors and sparkles and here he was, groaning in agony on the Guriffu couch with a crick in his neck from the hard muscle of Massu’s thigh.

Upon squinting open his eyes, which was as far as he could get at this point in time, he amended his previous thought – it didn’t look be anywhere near actual morning. The outside was as dark as the inside as the remains of what appeared to be a pretty wild party surrounded him. Half-empty soda cans and snack bags littered the room as well as a good majority of the Guriffu students passed out in sporadic locations, most involving the floor. Massu must have been pretty fucked up, otherwise he would have insisted on cleaning up before he went to sleep.

His Guriffu friend wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, Nakamaru learned as he rolled over onto his back to satisfy both his neck and his stomach. Stretching a bit, he wondered what time it was and if anyone in his own House was wondering where he was. Probably not; Koki might be cool with Maagu-borns now, but he still did not advocate inter-House fraternization.

Nakamaru rolled his eyes at the thought, enjoying the peaceful sounds of people snoring until it was interrupted by a giggle. Struggling to focus, he looked straight up and saw two witches tucked away in an alcove, so close together that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. Nakamaru recognized them immediately – Masami and Rina – followed by a sharp warning that told him to _look away right now_.

Of course he didn’t. It was like every lesbian porn movie Jin had ever made him watch, only it was with two girls he’d known since they were too young to star in them. And one of them was his classmate’s younger sister. This was wrong on so many levels, even if they were both eighteen now, but Nakamaru couldn’t avert his eyes.

It helped that it hurt to move his head at all. He had that excuse ready on the tip of his tongue should anyone suddenly wake up and see him staring like a pervert.

It was dark, but there was a lone candle flickering next to the alcove because the girls were still awake. If Nakamaru made to get up, the candle closest to him would probably light itself to guide his way. It was a safety precaution of the castle to make sure everyone could see where they were going as well as to shed light on anyone who happened to be going where they shouldn’t be. As long as Nakamaru didn’t move, he should stay hidden.

Now that it was sufficiently justified, Nakamaru relaxed as he strained his eyes to focus on the two fifth-years, one of whom was a Purii. It was the Purii who was on top, but Rina was just as active from below, if not more. She had one hand in Masami’s long hair, pulling her down for a kiss that was all tongues and glossy lips, while the other unfastened the buttons on her uniform top enough to slip her hand inside.

Rina might have been more dominant, but Masami was bolder. Rina’s knee lifted to Masami’s waist, taking her skirt with it, and Nakamaru saw a hand between her legs, fingers shifting aside a strip of fabric to touch what was underneath. Rina threw her head back and started to moan, but Masami was quick to muffle it with her mouth and the sound never made it out.

Nakamaru resisted the urge to squirm; hot as it was, jerking off while lying in his friend’s lap wasn’t very polite. Not to mention there were about twenty other people scattered about, and all it would take was _one_ person to ignite the motion-sensor candles. The girls were covered; he was not.

When Masami slid down Rina’s torso and settled between her legs, Nakamaru considered the afghan tossed over the back of the couch. It was obvious they’d done this before, and Nakamaru found himself wondering how long they’d been together. Even if they weren’t actually dating, just fooling around.

Masami’s breast was partially exposed as she pushed apart Rina’s legs, a dark nipple barely showing while Rina flung her arm over her mouth. It was a valid precaution, because with the way she started shaking and jerking when Masami lowered her head, Nakamaru thought she might otherwise have screamed out into the silent night.

Rina’s knees lifted up further and Nakamaru noticed the little bump poking out from a mass of curls. Masami’s tongue was moving so fast that he couldn’t actually see it, just Rina’s clit that twitched a split second before the rest of her body. Masami trailed two fingers down the inside of her thigh, disappearing inside her, and Rina looked like she was about to buck the two of them right out of the alcove and onto the unsuspecting pair curled up on the armchair underneath.

Upon a closer look, Nakamaru recognized the bodies in the armchair belonging to Koyama and Jaejoong. Somehow, he didn’t think they would appreciate the goings-on directly above them.

Even with a mouthful of her own arm, Rina made an audible noise, and Nakamaru’s attention shot back up right in time to see what he assumed was a violent-looking orgasm. Now, Nakamaru was no virgin, but he had _never_ made a girl shake like that as she came. Despite the distance, he could tell that Rina’s face had a red tint to it when she lifted her arm to grab Masami’s hair and pull her up.

They kissed more slowly this time, savoring each other and probably Rina’s taste as well. Rina’s tongue licked around Masami’s lips and Nakamaru suppressed a low groan in his throat.

Massu shifted behind him, and Nakamaru froze. Thankfully, the snoring started up again, but Nakamaru found himself even more aroused than before. Inwardly cursing his hormones, he didn’t dare move in fear of waking Massu again. Maybe he should have braved the candle and pretended not to see the girls in favor of closing himself in his four-poster bed with a Silencing Spell and no holding back.

It was too late now, and the girls didn’t appear to be close to finished with their tryst. Rina had Masami out of her shirt, plump breasts springing free as her nipples perked at the cool air between Rina’s pinching fingers. Masami was straddling Rina’s waist, rocking against her gently while Rina teased her with a hand on her thigh.

Masami leaned back, whispering something like “Come on,” and Rina grinned as she very, very slowly trailed her fingers under Masami’s skirt. Masami’s glare was murderous, but Rina wasn’t bothered by it. Then Masami’s back arched and Rina’s mouth latched onto one of her nipples, licking and sucking while Masami bounced on her hand.

Nakamaru felt like he was about to split open the fly of his pants with how hard he was. The way he saw it, he had two choices – he could do it here and chance being caught, or he could move. And he had already determined that moving wasn’t an option.

His hand crept into his pants, making his decision for him. The first touch was enough to make his mouth fall open, using every ounce of his willpower to stay silent. It took a lot of effort, but he managed to bite his lip as he coiled his fingers around his impossibly hard length and squeezed from base to tip and back again.

Up in the alcove, Masami lifted her legs higher, her skirt bunching around her waist and Rina’s moving hand visible to Nakamaru’s gradually unfocusing eyes. She had two fingers inside Masami and a thumb on her clit, working both angles while mouthing her breasts. Masami’s spine was in a constant arc, hair cascading down her bare back as she gasped for air like she had forgotten how to breathe.

Nakamaru pumped himself faster, figuring that the best way to go about this was to get it over with as quickly as possible. With as worked up as he was, he couldn’t find any flaws in this logic. His cock practically jumped into his own hand, his body fighting not to move anything other than his wrist. Masami’s jaw dropped and her body tensed, making Nakamaru fist the head of his cock because he was ready to come.

He leaned his head back as he achieved release, and Massu groaned in his sleep.

It was deafeningly silent as Nakamaru’s mind slowly returned to reality, save for his own rapid heartbeat as he took in the continued darkness and an increasing firmness poking against the back of his head.

Massu’s hand dropped into Nakamaru’s hair, but his snoring was uninterrupted. He didn’t push, just curled his fingers through the short strands and stilled.

Nakamaru’s eyes were practically bulging out of his face, paranoia creeping in as they darted to look at Masami and Rina. They were kissing obliviously as they attempted to return to a modest level of dress, which only relieved Nakamaru a little. Out of everyone in the room, they were the last ones he was concerned about.

Massu’s hand was heavy on his head, like a physical burden that wouldn’t let Nakamaru go back to sleep. He lay there long enough for the orgasm high to wear off, leaving him sweaty and uncomfortable with a crushing weight on his head and an erection at the top of his spine.

One last glance toward the alcove showed the girls blissfully asleep, wrapped up in each other, and Nakamaru took the opportunity to sneak out of the room. His escape was by no means graceful, rolling unceremoniously off of the couch and tripping over at least five people on his way out the door.

Naturally, his own common room was empty, and he had the shower to himself. When he got back to the dorm, however, he was not so lucky.

“Must have been a good party,” Koki mumbled sleepily from the next bed as Nakamaru slipped between his own sheets.

“I don’t remember it, so I guess so,” Nakamaru whispered. “Why are you awake?”

Koki yawned. “I woke up when you came in. I’m a light sleeper, you know.”

“Sorry,” Nakamaru muttered. “Cast a silencing spell or something.”

“Yeah, I should,” Koki said in a flat voice. “Good night. Happy birthday.”

His curtains rustled shut and Nakamaru heard a rushed _Shenshio_.

“Thanks,” Nakamaru said to deaf ears, wondering why he felt so guilty as he fell asleep.

\\\4//

> Dear Yuichi,
> 
> What the F? It’s been like a week. Your birthday couldn’t have been _that_ good considering Kimchi Kimochi is a dry castle. Whatever, I’m only writing you because I don’t have anything better to do in class. We’re learning fashion charms, which I obviously already know, but I didn’t want to ditch because the guest speaker, Professor Posh, is really hot. Another Brit, like they don’t have their own school or something. I caught her eyeing me during Kidochi practice, then SOV told me that she’s married to the famous English player, David Beckham.
> 
> Homecoming is this weekend, because American schools do that shit, and it’s been hinted to me that it’s not uncommon for girls to go together instead of hooking up with losers from the boys’ school. Rihanna and Katy both want to go with me, but I am totally digging on Ke$ha, even though she pretends that she hates me. I sent their pictures, which one do you like the best? Whoever you pick, I’ll definitely _not_ choose.
> 
> Stop being a douche and write me. I’m your best friend. :(  
>  Jin
> 
> P.S. Do you have Hoota? I’m “amajinlay77.”

Carefully, like they were going to blow up by touch alone, Nakamaru pinched the corners of the moving pictures and flung them onto his four-poster bed. Thankfully they were just headshots, a dark-skinned girl with bright red hair and a pale white girl with big, curious eyes, both smiling as they posed like models and blew kisses, presumably at Jin.

The third picture made Nakamaru want to reach for his pillow to cover himself from whatever rays of pure loathing this girl was beaming with her eyes. Another white girl, this one with wild, curly blonde hair and a few layers of eyeliner. She wasn’t smiling at all, more like growling, glaring nastily as it looked like she was pushing away whoever was taking her picture.

Nakamaru looked at the captions with their names and felt a nip to his nose. Eggplant, Jin’s owl, was parked right next to him and giving him an unimpressed look through his tinted shades. Usually he just passed out with the other owls before making his journey back across the ocean, but he’d clearly been instructed to poke for a response this time.

 _I can’t decide between Katy and Rihanna_ , Nakamaru wrote, scripting the names carefully in Roman letters. _But definitely not Ke$ha. She looks scary!_

Smirking, Nakamaru sent Eggplant on his way. Knowing that Jin would be instigating abuse from that heathen made him much happier as he made his way down to the Genki Hall to give Taguchi Jin’s Hoota name. Maybe he was devious enough to be in Surii after all.

“Morning,” Changmin greeted him, his Japanese just a tad unnatural while he nearly drowned in Taguchi’s green and silver robes. “But you certainly don’t look like you’re mourning!”

“I hate you, Taguchi,” Ueda said in a fond tone without looking up from his homework. “I am counting down the days until I leave this school and never have to see your face again.”

Changmin just grinned.

“Nakamaru-kun, good, I found you,” said a very familiar voice, one which Nakamaru sometimes heard in his dreams that he wouldn’t admit to anyone else.

Of course, this made him choke on his food and knock over his lychee juice. While he fumbled for his wand, he sensed everyone looking at him and felt a hint of sympathy from Kitayama.

“ _Sukohai_ ,” Kame cast lazily, flicking his wand towards Nakamaru with a wrinkled nose.

The juice disappeared and Nakamaru’s glass immediately refilled. “Thanks,” he mumbled, reluctantly looking up to meet gentle eyes. “Professor?”

“Report to my quarters after dinner,” Doko said crisply. “It’s regarding your performance in my class.”

He billowed away in a wave of pink and sequins, and Nakamaru was left with the snickers of his Housemates.

“Do you know the lubrication spell?” Meisa asked seriously. “I hear buttsex is awkward without one.”

She looked pointedly at her boyfriend, who blushed to match the burgundy of his robes.

“Shut up,” Koki jumped in, looking as defensive as Nakamaru felt. “Doko knows people at the Ministry, idiots. Maybe he wants to offer Yuichi a job for when he’s done with school.”

“I’m sure he wants to offer him a _job_ all right,” Park Sandara spoke up, making a very obvious hand gesture that involved puffing up her cheeks. “Do your best, oppa!”

“ _Do your best, oppa_!” Kame mimicked. “God, your voice is annoying.”

Dara narrowed her eyes and raised her wand, then seemed to think better of it and just smiled sweetly at Kame. Everything she said after that was in Korean, having somehow turned off the school-wide charm that automatically translated everything everyone said for easy understanding between the two main nationalities. It didn’t take a bilingual speaker to figure out what she was talking about, though, since she was holding her fingers an embarrassingly short distance apart and the other Korean girls were hiding their snickers behind their hands.

“I don’t remember you complaining last year in the Astronomy Tower,” Kame said evenly. “Although, come to think of it, that might have been because I cast a silencing spell on you.”

War raged in Dara’s eyes, and Nakamaru thought this was an opportune time to excuse himself and go see what his Defense professor wanted. The hallways seemed bigger and emptier on his way there, but after seven years he was confident in his navigation of the castle’s many twists and turns. Soon he was standing in front of a heavy door with a racecar knocker, which knocked on its own when it noticed his presence.

The door creaked open, an unspoken invitation. Nakamaru carefully stepped in, the door closing behind him as he took in the bland decor of the professor’s private quarters. It looked more like a cave than a living area, the dark lighting making it appear creepier than it should have been.

Nakamaru wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but a Guriffu second-year perched neatly on Doko’s leather couch was not it. The boy looked friendly enough, offering him a smile bright enough to offset the room’s atmosphere.

“Nakamaru-kun,” Doko drawled from a dark corner, emerging into the dim light. “This is Tegoshi Yuuya.”

“Hello,” Nakamaru said politely, taking a step forward because he felt drawn to the younger student. “I’m Nakamaru Yuichi. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, senpai,” the boy chirped, smiling bigger as Nakamaru got closer.

Until he was held back by Doko’s firm grasp on his robes. “Tegoshi-kun is part Bira,” Doko explained. “You know what Biras are, right?”

Tegoshi blinked cutely and Nakamaru’s mouth twitched. Everything he remembered from his Magical Creatures classes flew out of his head.

“Soul-sucking whores,” Doko supplied bluntly, offering Tegoshi an apologetic smile. “No offense.”

Tegoshi shook his head, unbothered, and Nakamaru couldn’t even address his confusion. “Professor?”

“Fortunately, Biras who haven’t completed their magical education aren’t as dangerous as adults,” Doko explained, patting Tegoshi on the head before standing a short distance away. “What I want you to do, Nakamaru-kun, is try to resist his natural charms.”

Nakamaru sighed in relief as he finally understood. This was a test of his willpower, something that was just as important in defending oneself as spells and protection charms. He stared straight at Tegoshi’s chubby face, recognizing the tug of his motor controls and effectively stopping them.

Just a few feet away, Tegoshi’s features scrunched up adorably as he presumably concentrated harder on being attractive. Then he exhaled and shrugged. “It’s no use. He’s pushing me away.”

“Nakamaru-kun is the best in his class at being defensive,” Doko informed the Guriffu boy, and Nakamaru tried not to blush. “He can conjure a Pacchoni without even trying, at the first sign of an attack.”

“Wow, so cool!” Tegoshi exclaimed, looking impressed. “What’s your Pacchoni form, Nakamaru-senpai?”

“An, um, elephant,” Nakamaru replied bashfully. “It’s not really a big deal-”

“Don’t be modest,” Doko chided, clapping his hand on Nakamaru’s shoulder. Nakamaru tried not to shudder under the casual touch. “It’s something to be proud of. It is, in fact, the only way we might be able to defeat the latest threat to our world.”

“Threat?” Nakamaru repeated, his scaredy senses going off like an alarm. “I thought the wizarding world has been at peace since magical education has been regulated internationally?”

“It was just a matter of time before someone decided to disturb that peace,” Doko answered, using his grip on Nakamaru’s shoulder to pull him farther away from Tegoshi. “This exercise will be harder and you probably won’t be able to do it on the first try, but just do your best, okay?”

Nakamaru gulped. “Okay.”

“Tegoshi, sing.”

The second-year opened his mouth, emitting the most beautiful melody Nakamaru had never heard. He knew it was a trap, that this was mainly how the Biras lured men to them before revealing their true forms and killing them, but Nakamaru was starting to lose control of his own mind. He felt it slipping away, lost in the waves of that sweet, sweet voice, and the next thing he knew there was a harsh pull on the back of his collar. It effectively choked him, bringing him to his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

When he opened his eyes, he was right in front of Tegoshi’s knee. His face felt warm at the thought of what he had almost done, but Tegoshi didn’t appear to be fazed as he helped Nakamaru sit on the couch next to him.

“What just happened,” Doko instructed as he popped out his bright orange earplugs, “is what will eventually bring the downfall of magical society under her power.”

“Her?” Nakamaru inquired.

“We don’t speak her name,” Tegoshi hissed. “She’s a very, very distant relative of mine, bred through a long line of evil wizards and witches in Canada.”

“Canada?” Nakamaru repeated. “Is there even a magic school there?”

“That’s beside the point,” Doko said dismissively. “Years ago, the last time there was disruption to our harmony, a secret organization was formed. It included high-ranking professors from Kimchi Kimochi as well as other Asian wizards and witches who excelled at defensive magic. It was called the Yellow Gold Coalition for the yellow color of our skin.”

“That’s kind of racist,” Nakamaru pointed out.

Doko ignored him. “Headmaster Ohno was a Gold member, just like myself and Professor Dots. Akanishi Jin’s mother and Kato Shigeaki’s parents were as well.”

“Jin-mama?” Nakamaru inquired, thinking of the lovely witch whom he’d considered a second mother while growing up. Imagining her fighting magical battles wasn’t that farfetched, considering that she used to hex Jin and his younger brother as punishment.

“After lying dormant for years, we were surprised to learn that there were reports of dark magic from Canada,” Doko reported. “In these past few weeks since school started, we’ve done enough research to be convinced that the Coalition will need to rise again. Since you are legally an adult, the choice is yours, but we would be grateful if you were on our side.”

It was a lot of information to process, and Nakamaru swallowed a few times before finding his voice. “But I’m not fully educated yet,” he protested. “Won’t I get in trouble?”

Doko laughed, a deep, hearty sound that made Nakamaru feel relieved despite the situation. “I think the Asian Ministry will understand, Nakamaru-kun, since they asked especially for you.”

“They did?” Nakamaru stared in disbelief. “Why?”

Instead of responding, there was a half-second of uncomfortable tension in which Nakamaru’s senses tingled. A blink later, his wand was out and there was a sparkly gumdrop-shield surrounding both himself and Tegoshi, sending Doko’s silent spell bouncing right back to him.

Nakamaru’s eyes widened as Doko became tied to his own mantle by thick ropes. “A little help, please,” the professor said dryly.

A soft counter-spell sounded from Tegoshi, and Doko fell unceremoniously to the floor.

“That’s why,” Doko said, dusting himself off as he walked up and poked the translucent remains of Nakamaru’s shield. “You’re the world’s only chance at getting close to her after she infects them with her song.”

“I don’t know,” Nakamaru mumbled. “How is my _defensive_ magic going to stop her?”

“You let us Gold members worry about that,” Doko assured him, but Nakamaru heard the uncertainty in his voice. “For now, just work with Tegoshi-kun and condition yourself to resist the song of the Bira.”

Nakamaru could feel Tegoshi’s smile from next to him. “Thanks for saving me too, senpai. Let’s work hard together, okay?”

Shakily, Nakamaru nodded. The concept of facing a dark witch frightened him enough to keep up the sparkly silhouette of his shield, at least until Tegoshi starting singing again and Nakamaru quickly found himself in the younger man’s lap.

Saving the world was proving to be a humiliating experience.

\\\5//

> Dear Round Nose,
> 
> Headmistress Madonna made an announcement today about a dark star falling from the north. I’m not supposed to use sender or receiver names anymore in case our owls are intercepted, so I made up code names for us. You are Round Nose, I am Code Red. No arguments.
> 
> Homecoming was lame. I took Ke$ha and she ditched me after I paid for everything. It’s cool, though, because she lets me copy her notes for Transfiguration. Professor Latifah lectures too fast for me to keep up. I like her flow, though. Sounds like she’s rapping.
> 
> I forgot to tell you, I left you a birthday present. It’s in that place we accidentally found that one time. Think about stars.
> 
> Be careful,  
>  Code Red

Nakamaru surreptitiously rubbed his nose as his brow furrowed at Jin’s letter. His old friend’s unusual somber tone was unsettling. Being so far away with limited communication with his friends and family must have been frustrating. Hell, Nakamaru was _here_ and he felt more isolated than he thought possible.

His own Headmaster had not made any kind of announcement to the students of Kimchi Kimochi. In one of their many training sessions, Professor Doko had expressed that the less anyone knew, the better. Nakamaru suspected that was because they didn’t know much, which was what scared him the most.

Between practicing with Tegoshi and keeping up with this school work, Nakamaru didn’t get a lot of sleep in that first quarter. Life continued to carry on all around him, the mindless chatter of ignorance that started to annoy him out of pure jealousy. Even Koki was getting on his nerves, and Koki seemed to be just as frustrated as him.

“ _Remedial_ fucking Charms,” Koki grumbled at breakfast one morning. “Can you believe that shit? I can do _wandless magic_ and Professor Aiba thinks I need remedial lessons.”

“You blew up the ceiling fan with a cleaning spell,” Taguchi – the real one – pointed out. “You can say bomb voyage to your Charms grade!”

“You need to learn how to control your temper,” Nakamaru said to Koki, not bothering to be nice. “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you know how to do it perfectly.”

Koki stared at him. “Dude.”

“He’s right,” inputted Ueda, looking just as surprised. “You need to know your own strength or you could seriously hurt somebody.”

“Okay, okay,” Koki gave in. “Magic is serious business, got it.”

Nakamaru dropped his head into his hands. All of the strain on his brain lately had left him with a constant throbbing. Five weeks and he’d only made it to where he could tolerate Tegoshi’s singing voice without falling victim to the spell. He was concentrating so much that his defensive instincts weren’t automatically kicking in, leading him to be knocked across the room or otherwise physically attacked by Professor Doko’s hexes.

It didn’t help that all of these sessions had to be kept secret, and thus the nature of Nakamaru’s relationship with Doko quickly became a school-wide interest. Nobody saw him head to Doko’s quarters after dinner, thanks to a spell Nakamaru naturally cast that caused others to pay him no attention, but the speculation continued.

When Nakamaru finally did get a chance to sleep, his body wouldn’t let him. If it wasn’t the headache or other related soreness, it was the fear. Nakamaru was the last person who should be expected to defend a whole world from destruction. He lay in bed at night, cursing the gods who gave him these special powers because he didn’t think he was mentally equipped to use them.

They might as well just surrender to this Canadian witch, he figured. At least that would save him the embarrassment of becoming a legend for _failing_.

Giving up on sleep, Nakamaru fingered Jin’s letter and noticed the last part. He’d passed over it before because birthday presents weren’t exactly at the top of his priority list, but something about those two sentences tugged at his already abused brain. _That place we accidentally found that one time_ could be anywhere; Jin and Nakamaru had spent their entire first year exploring the castle, discovering all kinds of shortcuts and secret passageways the faculty didn’t want them to know about.

 _Think about stars_ narrowed it down a little. The Astronomy Tower would be the obvious answer, and Jin was nothing if not obvious. Nakamaru wasn’t sure if there were classes going on tonight or not, but he would find out when he got there.

“ _Irumo_ ,” Nakamaru cast, lighting his wand as he crept out of the dorms and into the hallway. A few Surii third-years littered the common room, but they didn’t appear to notice him.

The castle was a lot eerier in the middle of the night. Being a wizard meant that concepts like ghosts and inanimate objects coming to life were ordinary, but Nakamaru still jumped when he noticed the sleeping portraits and felt the chill of unwanted company.

“Naka-whatever, Naka-whatever!” sang the Guriffu House ghost, Tackey, as he swirled around Nakamaru and hovered right in front of him, blocking his way. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“The Astronomy Tower,” Nakamaru answered.

Tackey cackled sinisterly, but Nakamaru just rolled his eyes. The stairs were more vindictive than Tackey. “I was just up there!” Tackey declared jovially. “Not a soul was in attendance, living or dead!”

“Good,” Nakamaru said, flattening himself against the wall to get by. “I want to be alone.”

“I daresay it’s a cloudy night,” Tackey went on, offering Nakamaru a knowing look. “Windy, even. You won’t be able to see a single star.”

“I’m not going to look at the stars,” Nakamaru said pointedly.

Tackey’s incorporeal face split into a grin. “A little _alone_ time, eh? Back in my day, we just used silencing spells on our beds! Of course they didn’t always work, but teenage boys are curious by nature and-”

“Okay, nice seeing you!” Nakamaru practically screamed over his shoulder as he ran the rest of the way to the very top floor of the castle. He didn’t slow down until he was by the Owlery, whose nocturnal inhabitants were wide awake and socializing the way magical owls do. It wasn’t hard to notice Eggplant, who was still resting up for his return flight and appeared to be in a heated argument with Kame’s owl, Squirtle. Nakamaru found comfort in the knowledge that their pets were just like them.

If Eggplant was still there when Nakamaru found whatever Jin had left for him, he could send back a thank-you note and some cryptic assurance that _something_ was being done to bring down the dark witch. Doko had mentioned that Jin’s mother was in the Coalition, but that didn’t mean that she had told him anything. Especially being in a country neighboring Canada, he probably wasn’t aware of anything more than he had been told by his Headmistress.

Thoughts and theories swam in Nakamaru’s mind as he approached the door to the Astronomy Tower, which was locked like it always was. However, even first years knew the unlocking spell, which Nakamaru cast effortlessly while wondering why they even bothered to lock them in the first place.

Once he stepped into the room, he saw why. Leave it to Tackey to encourage him to walk in on someone’s intimate moment. That perverted old ghost. Nakamaru was fully prepared to turn around and leave, particularly when the dark silhouettes formed distinguishing features in front of his eyes, but then he actually heard what they were saying.

“Come on, Kato,” Meisa’s rushed voice was insisting. She sounded irritated. “Do you _want_ to die a virgin?”

“I fail to see how having sex will be at all productive,” Kato grumbled in protest, which became more and more halfhearted as Meisa straddled his lap and rubbed between his legs.

Then she shoved his face in her boobs. “Shall I go to someone else for my comfort? I bet even lame Nakamaru would put out right now.”

Unimpressed, Nakamaru folded his arms and considered scaring them with sudden conjured scary things. Except that Nakamaru couldn’t cast silent spells and wasn’t that great at charms that required active thought, so he would probably send some kind of hex spiraling into the bookshelves and set the whole school on fire.

Compared to that, watching Kato fail at resisting Meisa’s borderline molestation was much preferable. It was kind of pathetic how Kato just gave in, like he turned to putty the second somebody touched his penis. Then again, he _was_ a virgin, and Nakamaru supposed that the older one got, the less restraint he had.

He himself wouldn’t know. He had lost his V card before he even knew he was a wizard.

His eyebrows rose in interest when Meisa popped the button on her shirt, her breasts spilling out in all of their beauty while Kato looked confused at what to do with them. Awkwardly, he brought his hands up, cupping them and tentatively flicking the nipples with his thumbs. Meisa tossed her head back, her long hair flowing behind her as she squeezed Kato’s length harder.

It was like whipping a horse; Kato sprang to life and slid one hand up into her hair, pulling her face down and capturing her mouth. It was a decent kiss, if Nakamaru were to judge, just the right amount of tongue and fervor as the air became thick with hormones and heavy breaths. He was surprised when Kato proactively reached between Meisa’s legs, her skirt pushed up by his wrist as he crooked two of his fingers and slipped them right inside her, her arousal glistening on them as he quickly pushed them in and out.

Nakamaru felt that twitch of interest again, but this time he didn’t think twice before groping himself through his pants. At least he wasn’t in danger of being caught, unless Tackey sent some other unsuspecting student to the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night. Although Nakamaru wouldn’t put it past him, even leaned against the door with all of his weight in case it was to actually happen, it just made it easier for him to dip his hand past his waistband and touch himself directly.

He caught his hiss with his teeth, but it wouldn’t have mattered since Meisa let out a wail that could have passed for a banshee. However Kato was touching her inside, she approved. She pushed him down to the floor and went to work on his belt, loosening it just enough to pop the button, lower the zipper, and shove his pants down his thighs.

Kato’s cock sprang out, curving into Meisa’s hand that moved faster with each stroke. Nakamaru mimicked the actions on himself, tightening his grip on the head as Meisa shifted up and hovered over her boyfriend.

“Wait,” Kato gasped, and Nakamaru almost conjured something to throw at him. “Did you cast a protection spell?”

Huffing an annoyed sigh, Meisa flipped her hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

Kato could barely get his fingers out of the way before Meisa sat on him, pulling a low groan from his throat as she took him completely inside her. He leaned up to kiss her deeply as she began to rock on top of him, lifting up enough for Nakamaru to see the moisture in her wake. Kato’s hands dropped to her hips, holding up her skirt even more and giving Nakamaru an uninterrupted view of his cock disappearing into her.

They were moving slowly, more sensual than racing for any kind of completion, and Nakamaru felt even dirtier for getting off to it. But that didn’t stop him from, in fact, getting off to it as he focused his eyes on the place where they united and fisted his own erection.

He came with a silent moan, inclined to slide down the door and onto his ass, but instead he held his composure long enough to sneak out of the room and back into the empty hallway. He cleaned himself up with a quick spell and stumbled back to the Surii House, only to run into Koki doing the same thing but from a different direction, mumbling to himself.

“Your extra lessons must be brutal,” Koki commented airily, and Nakamaru couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic until he added, “Professor Doko must like it rough.”

“That’s not-” Nakamaru started, but Koki had already stomped away.

By the time he’d pulled himself up the stairs into their dorm room, Koki’s curtains were shut with an obvious silencing spell around them.

It didn’t occur to Nakamaru until he was about to fall asleep that what Koki had been muttering were healing spells.

\\\6//

> Dear Round Nose,
> 
> I’m seriously freaked out. There are reports of the dark north star falling in our area, which has the whole school on lockdown. The only good thing about this is that Professor Posh is stuck here with the rest of us. She cornered me after my last Kidochi match, and the rest is history.
> 
> Every other subject has been pushed aside in favor of constant Defense lessons. Professor Beyoncé isn’t having any mercy on us, raging about being strong, independent women who can hold their own in a physical battle as well as a magical one. You know I’m not that fast at counter spells, so I get hexed a lot. Between that and all of the scared girls running to me for “comfort,” I can barely move in the morning.
> 
> You didn’t find your present yet. I hope you’re not too _emo_ about it.
> 
> Write me back, okay? I’m worried and shit.  
>  Code Red

“ _Ow_ ,” Nakamaru groaned as he received a fierce bite to the ass from Eggplant. “Let me figure out what he’s talking about first, okay?”

Eggplant hooted angrily, unmoving.

“You know, if I squint, it’s almost like Akanishi is here with us,” Kame commented from behind his tome of a book. “He’s just as annoying, anyway.”

“I added him on Hoota,” Taguchi spoke up. “His hoots are protected, though, and he hasn’t added me back yet. Maybe he doesn’t know ‘eroguchi’ is me.”

“I bet it’s the exact _opposite_ ,” Ueda grumbled.

“Shut the fuck up,” Koki growled at them all. “I’m trying to study.”

Kame, Taguchi, Ueda, and Nakamaru all stared at him.

“You feeling okay?” Kame asked cautiously.

“No,” Koki replied, looking exhausted as he dropped his head into his hands. “My remedial lessons are kicking my ass. I’m falling behind in everything else and I _can’t concentrate_.”

“I know the feeling,” Nakamaru said carefully. “Jin’s cryptic treasure hunts aren’t helping, either.”

He had thought that someone would ask him to elaborate, _hoped_ that he might be able to share his secret and indirectly his burden, but the four of them looked as disinterested as ever. Another unofficial code of the Surii House was every man for himself, which was both a blessing and a curse when it came to their private business.

It was also why he pretended not to notice Kuroki Meisa having a hysterical fit in the hallway. She saw him coming and quickly dried her face with her wand, but it was too late. He already had a hard enough time looking at her after the last time, and to be honest, she kind of terrified him.

“I got a bad grade,” she explained. “Tablo is a dick.”

“Yeah, he is,” Nakamaru agreed. “See you.”

Meisa nodded and they went their separate ways. Nakamaru climbed one staircase after another to the seventh floor, where he paced in front of a cactus while thinking of stars.

A door materialized in front of him, and he could have smacked himself for missing the clue the first time. A secret room that shifts to meet the needs of the person requesting it, nicknamed the Emergency Make Out (EMO) room due to the main purpose for which it was utilized by hormonal teenagers. Since only the person who visualized it could see that particular layout, it also doubled as a good place for hiding things.

Nakamaru expected some sort of a planetarium atmosphere when he walked inside, but the decor was lighter and more… fluffy. Stuffed animals and toys surrounded him, along with a music box melody that sounded almost haunting in his ears.

He was also not alone. Kato Shigeaki was seated in the middle of the room, hugging his knees to his chest and shaking with what Nakamaru thought to be silent tears. This was more uncomfortable than Meisa kicking furniture around, and for a second Nakamaru thought Jin had sent him here on purpose. He wasn’t that mean, though, or more likely not that _perceptive_.

“Um,” Nakamaru said eloquently. “I don’t mean to be rude, but can you please leave? I’m trying to find something important.”

Kato’s head lifted up, displaying red, wet eyes. “It’s that thing by the window. I knew someone was out there because it appeared out of nowhere. I allowed you to come in and get it, so just take it and go.”

Nakamaru had been in Surii long enough to get angry when someone from another House spoke to him that way, but he wasn’t in any condition to act on it. He turned toward the window and saw nothing but a toy kaleidoscope and window decals, all My Little Pony-themed.

“What thing?” Nakamaru asked carefully. He was just a little creeped out.

“The kaleidoscope,” Kato clarified. “It wasn’t there before. Although I’m sure I contributed to the design. Sorry.”

Nakamaru carefully approached the window and eyed the scope. “I don’t get it,” he said against his better judgment. “My Little Pony is a Maagu thing. You’re a full-blood wizard, right?”

“I don’t know what it is,” Kato said bitterly. “I don’t make a habit of researching little girls’ toys.”

“I have younger sisters,” Nakamaru quickly explained. “They’re not magic.”

“I’m pregnant,” Kato countered. “Stupid bitch cast a reverse fertility spell on me.”

Nakamaru opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. He did this a couple times before settling with, “I don’t know what to say to that.”

“And _she_ has the nerve to be mad at _me_ ,” Kato went on, clearly not wanting Nakamaru to say anything. This worked for him. “She thought I would be happy? Because I said I would do anything for her. Nobody really means that!”

Kato straightened up haughtily and Nakamaru’s eyes widened at the already-formed belly bump. “So fast!” he said without thinking. “Wasn’t it just a couple weeks ago?”

Kato eyed him, and Nakamaru tried not to look too guilty. “I should have known she would tell everyone. You wouldn’t know this because you’re Maagu-born, but magical pregnancies are considerably shorter than Maagus. The combination of wizarding genes speeds up the process, or something.”

“Ah,” Nakamaru thought out loud. “No wonder Jin-mama always pointed out that she carried him and his brother for nine whole months. How long does it take for witches normally?”

“Nine weeks,” Kato answered. “I suppose I should be grateful, but it came as a complete shock. She should have talked to me about it first! Besides, it’s embarrassing. Wizards haven’t gotten seahorsed for centuries.”

“Seahorsed?” Nakamaru repeated.

“Given the baby to carry instead of the woman, just like seahorses,” Kato explained. “It’s still conceived the same way, but there is a spell that will transfer the fertilized egg to the man. It was primarily used back in the days before modern healing techniques were discovered. A lot of witches were too weak to carry to term, so they devised a way for the stronger wizards to do it for them.”

“I see.” Nakamaru tentatively reached for the scope. “Where does it come out?”

Kato gave him a look with angry eyebrows.

“Oh.” Nakamaru stared at his hands. “Don’t you think Meisa had a reason for it?”

“Huh?” Kato wiped his face and watched Nakamaru turn the toy over and over in his hands. “Other than to embarrass me and ruin my life?”

“Is that why men impregnate women?” Nakamaru replied casually.

“I suppose not.” Kato heaved a sigh. “I mean, I love her, and I would be fine with it if it were she who got pregnant _by accident_. I’m not a man who runs away from my responsibilities.”

“That’s not what you’re doing right now at all,” Nakamaru said sarcastically.

Kato narrowed his eyes. “I don’t see how this is any of your business, anyway.”

“Meisa is a Surii, and Surii _is_ my business,” Nakamaru told him briskly. “She is also not maternal, not at all, which leads me to believe that she had an ulterior motive in casting you with her child.”

Grunting noncommittally, Kato rested his chin on his knees. “I told her I was going to make it… go away.”

Nakamaru cringed. “That would explain her rampage.”

“Yeah, she was pretty mad.” Kato scratched his head. “I guess I should try to talk to her rationally.”

“I doubt she’ll tell you anything,” Nakamaru said. “If she didn’t already share her plans with you, she won’t. It’s her nature. You’ll just have to trust her.”

Kato didn’t say anything, and Nakamaru busied himself with picking up the kaleidoscope and looking through it. The bridge automatically adjusted to his nose, although Nakamaru was pleased to note that it didn’t change much. Jin didn’t exactly have a petite nose himself.

What he saw was distorted, even when he leaned up to look out the window. The device seemed to pick up on living things, showing a gathering of small white dots for what Nakamaru presumed to be various magical creatures in the forest next to the school.

“What is it?” Kato asked, sounding curious, and Nakamaru spun around to focus the viewer on him.

“Oh, my god,” Nakamaru said, nearly dropping the item when he saw a silhouette of Kato in all white, accompanied by what looked to be a shiny golden egg that nearly blinded him with its luminosity.

“What? What do you see?” Kato went on. “You’re not looking at me naked, are you?”

Nakamaru made a face. “Ew, no. I think this is some kind of indicator of magical prowess. Everything outside was white, which is usually a symbol of peace and security. However, that _thing_ inside you is bright gold.”

“Yellow gold,” Kato deadpanned, and Nakamaru lowered the scope to see the Head Boy’s trademark serious face.

“You know about the Coalition?” he asked.

“ _You_ know about the Coalition?” Kato retorted. “No offense, but you’re a Maagu-born.”

“None taken,” Nakamaru said honestly, scrutinizing the object in his hand. Underneath the fuzzy ponies with long, flowing manes, the initials AK were inscribed. “Do you know who AK is?”

“Akanishi Kanae-san,” Kato answered promptly.

“Jin-mama?” Nakamaru declared in surprise. “But she wouldn’t have been Akanishi when she went to school-”

“From what my parents tell me, she was married by her second year,” Kato said. “It was well-known throughout the Asian wizarding world because she was only fourteen when she gave birth to her first son – Jin. Quite the scandal, actually.”

Nakamaru blinked. “Jin never told me that.”

“Why would he? It’s his family’s dirty laundry.” Kato shrugged. “At least they’re still together, despite her husband being a Maagu. If she wasn’t so active in the Coalition, she would probably be an outcast.”

“And she _made_ this?” Nakamaru questioned, holding up the scope.

“May I see it?” Kato asked. “If that does what I think it does, you can tell by looking at me through it whether my intentions are good or not.”

Nakamaru put it up to his eyes again and saw nothing but white and shiny gold. He handed it over, but he also had his wand out and pointed at Kato’s head.

Kato’s hand immediately went to his abdomen, protectively, and Nakamaru’s tension softened.

“Hormones,” Kato explained, and Nakamaru just nodded and kept his comments to himself.

They were quiet for several minutes while Kato examined the device, poking at places where there might be openings or dials. He looked at Nakamaru through it, made a confused face, and lowered it to eye him directly. “You are light yellow with a red blob where your heart should be.”

“What does that mean?” Nakamaru asked, clutching his heart on instinct. It was beating very fast.

“If I had to guess, the yellow means fear,” Kato theorized. “I’m not sure about the red. You didn’t see red on anything when you looked outside?”

“No, but there were no humans either,” Nakamaru admitted. “You didn’t have any red, though.”

“Hmm.” Kato looked thoughtful as he fingered the scope some more. “I would say that we should just owl Akanishi’s mother and ask her about it, but that might not be a good idea right now.”

“What do you know?” Nakamaru demanded.

“More than you,” Kato replied simply. “I’ve been in the Coalition since I was old enough to eavesdrop. I also know someone on campus we can ask about this, someone whom we can trust.”

“So do I,” Nakamaru said. “Doko is in the Coalition too.”

Kato shook his head. “Doko doesn’t believe in anything that doesn’t come from the mind. He’s old-fashioned like that. He would take this apart to figure out how it worked and whatever purpose you had in retrieving it would be gone.”

“Jin owled me about it,” Nakamaru told him. “His school in California is already taking precautions against an attack. Maybe I can ask him in code-?”

“I doubt he knows either,” Kato interrupted. “Let’s go see Toma.”

“Professor Ikuta?” Nakamaru clarified, wrinkling his nose. “I heard he failed out of school, but Headmaster Ohno allows him to teach Care of Magical Creatures because they’re old friends.”

“Just because he’s not a certified wizard doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know things,” Kato said. “In fact, it means that he knows _more_.”

Nakamaru’s confusion was replaced with surprise when Kato flung the device at him, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled him out of the EMO room.

The decor changed to pitch-black with gold, twinkling stars the second Kato stepped through the threshold, but Nakamaru could only see it for a second before the wall reappeared.

\\\7//

> Dear Round Nose,
> 
> Eggplant came back without a note, so now I’m really worried. He’s also moping around with some green feather, treating it like a fucking shrine. Has he been talking to some lady owl or something? I don’t know what happened, but you better be alive or I’ll kill you. SOV lent me her owl, Fucker, whom she swears will castrate you if you don’t reply. Just check a fucking box, okay?
> 
> → I am alive and well and Code Red is awesome [__].
> 
> I got notification that your present was moved. I hope it was by you. There were three magical signatures, one underage, but none threatening. I hope that you would only share it with trustworthy people. You have always been a better judge of character than me, so maybe you won’t need it.
> 
> Be safe,  
>  Code Red
> 
> P.S. Fuck you for giving Ugly _Ero_ guchi my Hoota. I blocked his annoying ass.

“Is there such thing as magical GPS?” Nakamaru wondered through a mouthful of pudding.

“Yeah,” Kame replied nonchalantly. “Uchi’s mother has one on him.”

The table exploded into snickers, except for Meisa whose mouth was in a straight line. Being that Kato was over at his own table being force-fed by Yamapi and Koyama, Nakamaru assumed that they hadn’t made up yet.

It wasn’t his business, and this would go against everything Suriis stood for, but Nakamaru passed her a note during Advanced Transfiguration class. He turned it into a flying crane so that Professor Nagase would allow it.

A minute later, he was beaned in the head by her response. He reached up for it and got bit on the fingers, yelping as he brought it down to his desk and saw that she had transformed it into a crab.

 _You’re focusing on the wrong Surii_ , was all it said.

Nakamaru frowned. She was the one who had planted something inside her boyfriend, something that shone as bright as the sun on his karameter. That’s what Professor Ikuta had told him it was when he and Kato had gone to visit him, anyway. In his self-made shack on the edge of the forest, Ikuta was clearly exempt from the ‘dry castle’ rule and had thrown back several shots of whiskey during the few hours they were there.

The alcohol made him much more loose-lipped, though, even if it wasn’t exactly about anything pertinent to the dark Canadian witch or the Yellow Gold Coalition. It all had to do with Jin’s mother, who had made the karameter out of a toy kaleidoscope when she was pregnant with Jin’s little brother in her fifth year. She used it to distinguish friend from foe, adding onto it as the years went by. Ikuta guessed that the red heart was one of those add-ons, but he was as clueless as they were as to what it meant.

Nakamaru closely examined his Housemates at dinner, at least until he got a lapful of angry owl. Fucker was twice the size of Eggplant, with dreadlocks and a gold beak. Her nails dug into Nakamaru’s thighs and he reached down to cup himself protectively.

“Akanishi is a demanding girlfriend, isn’t he?” Chaerin chided, giggling as she bumped into Koki next to her. “And to think, oppa, this was supposed to be _your_ year with him gone!”

It was a credit to Koki’s exhaustion that he just glared at her with no further malice. Nakamaru didn’t think Jin was _that_ big of a ladies’ man, particularly within their House, but Chaerin must have disagreed. Nakamaru didn’t understand women at all.

Fucker shoved Jin’s letter into his face just then, and he snatched it before she could scratch him hard enough to bleed. He checked the box and _achio_ ‘d over Kame’s red pen to draw a heart with an arrow pointing to it, scribbling “wtf?” next to it. He didn’t think Jin would be able to decode it, but it was worth a shot.

Satisfied, Fucker flew off without even staying overnight to rest. British owls were fierce.

Nakamaru flicked the pen back at Kame, who winced but said nothing as he returned it to his pocket protector.

“You okay?” Nakamaru asked uneasily. Maybe this was the Surii to whom he was supposed to pay attention.

“My owl is depressed,” Kame replied flatly. “He won’t deliver my mail and the other owls have reported him crying at night. I think he got into a fight because he’s missing a feather.”

Nakamaru blinked. “Shouldn’t you talk to him about it?”

“I tried.” Kame sighed. “He won’t tell me anything. Stupid owls.”

Biting back the obvious, Nakamaru looked away and ended up catching Meisa’s eye. She tilted her head just enough to gesture for him to follow her, then stood up and strode out of the Genki Hall with her head held high.

Chatter immediately rose at the Surii table. “Did you hear she seahorsed Kato?” Bom slurred through her collagen-plumped lips. “They may take away her Head Girl badge for it.”

“Really?” Sawajiri Erika asked in interest. “Who would be the new Head Girl?”

“Becky in Reikura, I think,” Kame inputted. “She was really pissed that Meisa got it instead of her.”

“But she’s a half!” Dara exclaimed.

“Meisa is a quarter South American,” Ueda pointed out. “And what?”

That got Koki’s attention. “She is? In _Surii_?”

“Jin is part Italian,” Nakamaru spoke up. “Or at least he claims he is.”

Koki seethed at that, and Chaerin patted him on the shoulder a couple times. He must have been _really_ jealous of Jin, Nakamaru thought, but he didn’t have much time to dwell on it since he needed to catch up with Meisa.

He’d barely made it out the extravagant French doors before he had a wand at his throat. “You don’t make me wait,” Meisa hissed, poking him with the tip of her wand before pulling away and retreating down the hallway.

Nakamaru stayed a few steps behind, watching her hair sway from side to side as she walked briskly. They were heading down the Charms corridor past the introductory lecture rooms and into what looked to be a battle room with padded walls and a glass divider.

“This is Koki’s ‘remedial’ class,” she said softly, lifting her fingers to rest softly on the glass. “Aiba is training him in dark magic.”

“Aiba? Dark?” Nakamaru repeated, uncertain of his hearing. There was nothing less than bright and shiny about Aiba Masaki, Charms, or anything having to do with the Haffa House.

Meisa stared longingly at the empty room. “You have to understand the dark arts in order to defeat them, Nakamaru-kun. And not just defensively.”

That last part was said pointedly, and Nakamaru gave her a sheepish look. “I haven’t really thought about it like that before.”

“Charms can prepare one for performing magic,” Meisa explained. “Holding your wand properly, enunciating the syllables – these skills can be applied to all aspects of magic. One who excels at Charms would excel at other spells, including hurtful ones.”

“Are you saying that Koki isn’t getting remedial lessons – he’s getting _advanced_ lessons?” Nakamaru asked.

“You could say that.” Meisa let her eyes fall shut. “I followed him here one night and saw for myself. Aiba has him testing his strength on all kinds of curses. You know that the more genuine anger you have, the more effective the curse, right?”

“Yeah,” Nakamaru replied. “Koki definitely has a lot of anger in him.”

“That’s why he was chosen,” Meisa told him. “I’m sure it’s the same reason you were chosen to defend him. Only you’re a lot better at sneaking around than he is.”

“Defend him?” Nakamaru repeated. “What are you talking about? What do you even know about my defensive powers-?”

“Simmer down, trigger,” Meisa cut him off, spinning around to lean her back against the glass with a smug smile. “They were going to have to bring us together sooner or later. Did you think you were going to thwart a dark, powerful witch by yourself?”

“I… no,” Nakamaru admitted. “I thought I would be protecting older, more competent wizards.”

“I’ll assume that you’re not calling me incompetent,” Meisa huffed. “Our magic is the strongest at this age, so it’s only natural that they would call upon us to take that Canadian bitch down. And the more you care about someone, the better your shields work, right?”

“I guess,” Nakamaru responded. “It’s all subconscious. I can’t even control it.”

“Exactly.” Meisa stared at him. “I don’t plan on getting involved in the actual battle, but should I happen to, I’d hope that your subconscious would protect me too.”

Nakamaru saw fear in her eyes, and that’s when it clicked. “This is why you seahorsed Kato.”

“I was going to talk to him about it, but the opportunity came first.” Meisa shrugged. “He can be mad at me all he wants as long as he doesn’t kill it. That would defeat the whole purpose.”

“Which is?” Nakamaru pressed. “Did you know about this in advance? Is that why you picked him?”

“Yes and no,” Meisa replied. “He was definitely the best candidate for the job, but I do genuinely like the little shit. And I trust him, which is important for this spell. It’s a protection charm passed down in my family, from when the samurai would make their wives pregnant before going off to war. By charming the fetus, they were protected themselves, but it only works if the other person is physically with child.”

“And when the baby comes?” Nakamaru prompted.

Meisa shrugged again. “The Headmaster agreed to put in a nursery during the school year. And Kato’s best friend is a huge whore for babies.” She hid a smile. “It’ll be worth doing the whole mother thing if I’m still alive.”

“You’re really worried about this,” Nakamaru stated.

“Aren’t you?” Meisa asked incredulously. “We could _die_ , Nakamaru-kun. We could die and be the reason the international wizarding world falls under _her_ power. She already has most of the unsuspecting Maagus. She’s a sneaky bitch.”

“How is she doing it?” Nakamaru wondered out loud. “I’m being trained to tolerate the Bira’s song. Does she sing to them or something?”

“Right in one,” Meisa answered. “She’s a pop singer in the Maagu world. She performs concerts and puts out CDs, fucking the mind of everyone who listens. It’s quite brilliant, actually. Perfect for a Bira.”

Nakamaru gulped. “And Koki..?”

“Koki has to stop her,” Meisa said bluntly. “A silencing spell would be the most effective, for obvious reasons, but she would be able to counter it immediately. Even if we bound her first, she’s guaranteed to have minions standing by to reverse it. What Koki needs to do is remove her voice _completely_.”

“Is that even possible?” Nakamaru asked.

“Anything is possible with magic.” Meisa took a deep breath. “And failing that, he’ll have to kill her.”

Nakamaru’s eyes slowly moved to the isolated battle room. “So he’s been preparing for that.”

“It’s hell,” Meisa told him. “You can’t cast a killing curse and have it work unless you really mean it. But out of everyone in this school, Koki would be the most likely to do it in the heat of passion. It’s just emotionally draining for him to practice like this.”

Nakamaru swallowed. “What do you mean ‘in the heat of passion’?”

Meisa just smiled. “It’s the same concept as your shields. He wants to protect the people he cares about too.”

Solemnly, Nakamaru regarded the battle room, Meisa, and the situation. “We have to do what we have to do.”

“Yeah,” Meisa agreed. “It’s looking to be in a couple weeks. Are you ready?”

“A couple- what?” Nakamaru squeaked. “How do you know that? Doko just said last night that the Coalition didn’t have any idea when they were going to make their move.”

“I get my news faster than them,” Meisa said with a wink. “It’s why I’m here, after all.”

Nakamaru stared at her. “Why _are_ you involved in this?”

“You and Koki haven’t been the only ones training, you know.” Meisa put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been working with Dots for months now, ever since I got the first premonition of dark magic overseas.”

“Premonition?” Nakamaru repeated.

Meisa stood straight and pulled a stray string off the back of her jacket. “You’re going to get us close to her, Koki is going to take her down, and…” She paused as she met Nakamaru’s eyes. “And I’m going to lead you to her.”

\\\8//

> Round Nose,
> 
> Shit is getting serious. Ke$ha won’t leave my side. She says it’s love, but I don’t believe her. Truth is, we’re all scared out of our minds. Some of the staff has been infected as well as the students. Professor Morrissette flipped out in Magical Theology the other day, and it turns out she’s been a spy for the Canadians this whole time. We’re all sequestered in this place that reminds me of the Otaeari. Minus the creepy noises, unless you count SOV’s snoring.
> 
> Mom said that you’re a key weapon in this fight. I hope she was kidding, otherwise I’ll die of hopelessness.
> 
> Don’t forget about your present,  
>  Code Red

“The Otaeari? How can you hide in a bathroom?” Nakamaru hissed out loud, nearly tripping over a tree root.

Koki grabbed him by the hoodie and kept him from falling. “It means he’s underground,” he clarified. “He and the other girls should be safe as long as none of them get brainwashed by the Bira’s song.”

“I heard the bitch’s album went straight to number one,” Meisa informed them both, leading the way with both hands held out in front of her. “The entirety of Maagu North America is already under her command and they don’t even know it.”

“Fuck, man,” Koki spat. “To have that kind of power…”

To the naked eye, it would look like they were three normal Japanese students wandering through a forest in northern Quebec. Meisa looked a little odd, but Koki and Nakamaru trudged behind her in a perfect triangle formation. What the naked eye couldn’t see, though, was Koki’s unwavering stare locked ahead of them, ready to attack anything or anyone that attacked them first, magical or physical. On the other point, Nakamaru had the karameter out like it was a flashlight, shedding light on their path in addition to picking up any magical signals.

So far all he’d encountered were animals and bugs, all glowing white, but Nakamaru’s senses were tingling on the brink of magical tension anyway. He was surprised they all weren’t traveling in an impermeable bubble with how terrified he was. He felt his nerves on edge, ready to shield at the slightest sound.

“We’re close,” Meisa said suddenly. She inhaled deeply, her breath a cloud of white that dispersed with the light breeze. “I’m glad. It’s fucking cold.”

“Weird, I’m not cold,” Nakamaru commented, noticing for the first time that the other two were shivering.

“It’s that _thing_.” Koki pointed to the karameter. “It’s charmed to heat up whoever touches it, I bet.”

“Really?” Nakamaru questioned, picking up the karameter to look through it. Koki was bright red and Meisa was braided with tri-gold. “We didn’t pick up a heating charm on it before.”

“You said Akanishi could tell when it was moved, right?” Meisa asked. “And how many magical people were with it? I bet it tells him the temperature, too. Since it’s his mother’s creation, he probably has some mental connection to it as well.”

“Are you saying Jin’s actively heating it because it’s cold?” Nakamaru gaped at the karameter. The initials AK glowed in a dark red, like there was in fact a heating element inside it.

“Share, Akanishi,” Koki growled, breaking their formation to grab part of the scope as well. Instantly he stopped shivering, letting out a sigh and smiling at the sudden comfort. “I don’t hate him that much anymore.”

Meisa turned to face them with regretful eyes. “I need my hands to guide us. Maybe it will work if you put it on my shoulder?”

Both Nakamaru and Koki lifted the karameter into position, and they could see that it was warming Meisa as well. It was awkward to walk like that, but the three of them found a rhythm together and Nakamaru found himself more at ease with the closer vicinity.

Which is why he didn’t see the young boy approach them. “Excuse me, are you lost?”

Three heads turned towards the kid, who looked harmless enough. Since he was on their left, only Koki could see him through the karameter, and Nakamaru didn’t sense a change in his mood. The newcomer was late teens, white-skinned, with no trace of what they believed to be a Canadian accent. (“Canadians don’t actually have accents,” Meisa had told them, smacking Koki on the head when he’d attempted to make fun of them. “It’s a myth, just like passive Asian sex.”)

“Yes, we’re lost,” Koki said now, using his best English that still seemed to make him sound like Eminem.

“Our car broke down,” Meisa lied smoothly. “I thought I saw a house on the other side of this forest when we were driving by.”

“The highway is far away from here,” the kid said, sounding more concerned than suspicious. “That was my aunt’s place you saw. Follow me and you can use our phone.”

“Thank you _so much_ ,” Meisa swooned, bowing at the waist.

It was a little out of place for the sake of a white kid, Nakamaru thought, but then he realized why this kid was being so nice to them. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of Meisa’s rack, which she wasn’t doing much to cover up now that she wasn’t freezing anymore.

Koki’s chuckle as they started to walk told Nakamaru that he had noticed as well. They were both still clutching the karameter, their fingers bumping as they followed Meisa and their new guide. Koki’s hand slid up to grip Nakamaru’s and the elder wizard started, almost faltering in his step yet again as he tried to remain inconspicuous. He could probably fall on his face with as transfixed as this kid was with Meisa’s body, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

He quickly glanced toward Koki and saw his eyes on the back of the white kid’s head. His face was devoid of any expression, jaw set, and another squeeze from Koki’s hand told him to stop looking. Feeling more anxious than ever, Nakamaru squashed down his protective instincts and focused ahead of them instead.

That’s when he saw Meisa’s hand behind her back, making different shapes like she was trying to sign them something. He nudged Koki, who glanced at him before noticing the movement from whatever Meisa was trying to tell them. She was using a form of signing that Nakamaru wasn’t familiar with, but Koki kept shaking his head like he was responding to her. It seemed pointless since Meisa wouldn’t be able to see it unless she had eyes in the back of her head, which Nakamaru suddenly realized was entirely possible given her gift.

He also suddenly felt very, very left out. It wasn’t very smart, either – in order to protect them, he needed to be aware of what was happening.

They walked in silence, trudging through the forest that grew even darker as the clouds kept hiding the moon. If Nakamaru could see the sky, he would have been amazed at how fast the clouds were moving. It was like a prelude to a storm, except there was no sign of actual precipitation.

Lightning crashed and Nakamaru tried not to jump. Koki tightened his grip on the karameter and indirectly Nakamaru’s hand, and Nakamaru pushed away thoughts of warmth and comfort in favor of the creepy-looking cabin they were coming upon.

“I’ll go tell my aunt you’re here,” the kid said, breaking the silence that was so tense that Nakamaru felt a chill down his spine.

“Wait,” Meisa said sweetly, and the kid’s face took on a lovesick look. “What’s your name?”

“Justin,” the kid answered. “Justin Bieber.”

“Nice to meet you,” Meisa replied. “I’m Meisa Kuroki.”

Bieber nodded his head a little, then retreated into the house.

“Don’t move,” Koki mumbled in a low, barely audible voice. “He showed up as all black on the karameter. He’s definitely evil.”

“This is the place,” Meisa added softly. “This is what it looked like in my vision. His aunt must be _her_.”

“Shh,” Nakamaru said as he heard steps on the side of the house. The other two looked at him oddly but fell silent, trusting in his enhanced sense of hearing that was part of the defensive package.

What followed after that was more painful than anything he could have been trained for. A song, unpleasant to the ears but tugging at his willpower nonetheless, and Nakamaru’s senses shot into action. He flung a shield at Meisa, knocking her back into the forest and out of harm’s way, and blocked his and Koki’s minds as they moved in.

It took a lot of concentration to resist the Bira’s song for both of them, but it was no worse than fighting off Tegoshi since Bieber was still underage. It was good practice, anyway, as Koki lifted his free hand and curled his fingers together, grabbing at the empty air as he inwardly recited Latin words that didn’t make any sense to Nakamaru. They both watched in mild fascination as a yellow light traveled around the corner of the house and returned with a glowing ball, the horrible song becoming louder and louder until it was fisted in Koki’s hand.

Nakamaru cringed as Koki squeezed it tightly, effectively breaking it like glass that shattered all over the ground. It sparkled for a few seconds before going out like a match in water.

Silence surrounded them, the pair taking the opportunity to catch their breaths as Nakamaru dropped his barrier on both of their minds and Koki calmed down considerably. Except that it was only a second until Nakamaru heard quick steps going around the back of the house and had to do everything in his power to keep from running the _other_ way.

The outline of Nakamaru’s forming shield was visible enough to blur Bieber’s face as he flung open the front door, wand at the ready. Koki had his out too, for the first time all year other than in class, and Nakamaru knew it was because he planned on casting dark magic.

“Where is she?” Koki demanded, taking one step forward. The shield moved with him.

Unable to speak, Bieber pointed inside. He started to turn, then spun on his heel and mouthed a curse that sent red light soaring towards them. It shattered Nakamaru’s shield but left them unharmed, at least until it was followed by something green.

Nakamaru’s instincts didn’t erect another shield but rolled him to the side, the ground next to him becoming a gaping hole singed by what was undoubtedly a silent killing curse. Next to him, Koki was raging, sparking with his accumulated anger that sent his nasty disemboweling curse hitting the hot-pink flamingo next to the door through which Bieber had disappeared.

“Shit,” Koki gasped, chest heaving. “He almost killed you!”

Nakamaru was just as breathless. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

“We made it this far,” Koki snapped, grabbing Nakamaru by the shoulder and pulling him to his feet with strength that Nakamaru didn’t know his small friend possessed. “Let’s go take the bitch down.”

Koki had enough determination for ten people, which worked out because Nakamaru had enough for negative three. He was reluctantly pulled through the open door into what looked to be a cozy getaway cabin, possibly in the summer when it wasn’t freezing outside. There was a covered couch and loveseat – cat print – surrounding a small table and fireplace. The only personality the room had was shining from the five golden awards on the mantle.

“Koki,” Nakamaru gasped, his wand shaking in an obvious display of his fear.

“It’s okay, I see them.” Koki held his wand in one hand and the karameter in the other. “The bitch is dark, dark purple, and Bieber is with her. It looks like she’s ignoring him. I bet he’s trying to get her to give him another voice.”

“Anything would be better than that one he had,” Nakamaru commented, making a face. He turned to see Koki looking at _him_ through the karameter now, and for the first time since they had Apparated onto Canadian soil, Nakamaru laughed. “I must be bright yellow now.”

Koki put down the scope and gave Nakamaru a confused look. “Huh? You’re usually this deep shade of pink.”

“ _Pink_?” Nakamaru repeated. “Kato said I was yellow.”

Koki blinked a few times, then stared at the scope. “Do you think we all look different depending on who’s looking through it?”

“Maybe,” Nakamaru replied. “You’re red, but I thought that was because of your anger.”

“This thing needs a fucking instruction manual,” Koki grumbled.

“ _Les murmures du matin_ ,” a soft, entrancing voice started to sing. “ _Des amoureux dormant serré…_ ”

“What… language is that?” Koki asked carefully.

“I’m not sure,” Nakamaru answered honestly as he struggled to resist the pull. “We’re in Quebec, so it’s probably French.”

“French,” Koki said. “I don’t know French. Ueda knows French.” He blinked. “She sounds much better than Bieber.”

Nakamaru concentrated harder, and Koki stopped in his gravitation towards the voice. “We need to hurry. I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

“She sounds familiar,” Koki went on, paying no attention to Nakamaru’s agony. “A strong, powerful voice.”

“ _Koki_ ,” Nakamaru insisted. “Let’s go.”

“Okay, okay.”

The karameter held out in front of them, they trudged up the stairs into a large room with wooden floors and not much else. The voice grew louder, the song flowing into its first chorus, then the second verse when they turned the corner and saw her.

“Celine fucking Dion?” Nakamaru exclaimed, looking at her in disbelief.

“Don’t say her name!” Koki yelled.

Nakamaru was confused. “But she’s been trending on Hoota for a month!”

Celine Dion smirked at them as she continued to sing, arms spread and mouth open wide. “ _Parfois, j’ai peur mais je suis prêt à apprendre, de la puissance de l’amour_!”

Nakamaru felt like he was about to pass out. “Koki…”

“ _Sutsufai_!” Meisa’s voice sounded from downstairs, and Koki and Nakamaru exchanged a look. “Watch out behind you, TaNakamaru!”

Koki spun around to face the stairs just in time to disarm a dark wizard, after which his own wand flew out of his hand. Mournfully, Nakamaru looked at the sadistic face of Justin Bieber, who now had two wands. Being skilled in wandless magic, Koki wasn’t bothered by this; however, he forewent any spells and simply grabbed the nameless Canadian wizard by the robes and punched him in the face.

Meisa thundered up the stairs next, gasping at the sight of Celine Dion wailing and Bieber with Koki’s wand. “Holy shit,” she said. “It’s really her.”

“Go back downstairs!” Nakamaru yelled to her. “I can’t block you from her song too!”

“ _Shirenshio_!” Meisa cast, halting Celine on her last note, then turning to summon the wands from Bieber.

Bieber’s mouth moved again, and Meisa was knocked backwards in a fury of purple flames. Nakamaru shielded her just in time, but she still appeared to be unconscious. Unfortunately, Bieber took advantage of Nakamaru’s focus on Meisa to throw a curse at him.

Through the burn of his own purple flames, the last thing Nakamaru saw was Koki grabbing Meisa’s wand and screaming the killing curse, rolling his R’s as the glowing green light hit Bieber square in the chest and sent him crumpling to the ground.

\\\9//

> Dear Yuichi,
> 
> I cannot believe you played a main role in saving the wizarding world from Celine Dion. If I hadn’t been all the way over here, I bet it would have been me with you instead of Koki. Actually, that’s probably a lie, since I suck at casting spells. You remember that time I tried to use the killing curse on a flower and a bee flew out and stung me? I’m a lover, not a fighter.
> 
> Speaking of love, Ke$ha and I are an item now. I thought she would leave me after the world was declared safe again by the Canadian Minister of Magic, but she says she’s addicted to me. Like I’m a drug or something. How fucking awesome is that?
> 
> Now that we’re not speaking in code anymore, I can tell you about the karameter. My mom made it when she was in school to be able to gauge the trustworthiness of someone. ‘Kara’ stands for ‘character’. Girls were conniving bitches even back in her day, and she had to be careful who she let close to her. The lighter the color, the purer the heart, and the darker the color, the more evil someone is. In addition, there are patterns and symbols to distinguish character traits or connections to someone else. For example, someone you love will be a varying shade of red, but someone who is seriously loved by another will only have a red heart. Wizards or witches with special gifts or powers will be a shade of yellow or gold, and Seers will have a line of silver as well.
> 
> The reason why I left it for you actually had nothing to do with the dark witch hunt. For years I’ve been looking through it, using it the way my mother had, and ever since second year you’ve had a red heart. I’ve always been curious who felt so strongly about you, since you seemed to have no idea at all. I thought you could use it to find out who it is, because even though you have an exceptionally large nose and are kind of a wuss, you deserve love too.
> 
> Please be well by Christmas. The infirmary creeps me out.  
>  Jin

Nakamaru stirred and squinted in the light filtering through the curtains. “Bright.”

“He’s awake!” Taguchi screeched, and Nakamaru winced at his voice.

“Thank Johnny,” Kame whispered, his eyes uncharacteristically warm and attentive as he slowly came into Nakamaru’s focus. “We thought we’d lost you.”

“What happened?” Nakamaru mumbled. “Why do I feel like the freeway?”

“Whatever that curse was,” Ueda explained. “It eats at your brain.”

“Purple flames,” Nakamaru recalled.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Nurse Lee Hyori said as she stepped into the room with a tray of potions. “You’re lucky you have such a strong defense, Nakamaru. That spell could have made you a vegetable.”

A soft hand rested on top of Nakamaru’s, and he turned to look at Meisa’s tear-streaked face. She wasn’t crying right now, but she had been. “Thank you for keeping me from becoming a vegetable too.”

Nakamaru smiled weakly. “Thank you for watching our backs.” He looked around, noticing the one person who wasn’t there. “Where’s Koki?”

Four faces fell. “He’s, um,” Meisa began, patting Nakamaru’s hand comfortingly. “He’s been hiding somewhere since he was cleared by Nurse Lee. I think he’s really upset with himself for killing someone.”

“Did he bring down Celine Dion?” Nakamaru asked in a rush. “Did he take her voice?”

“Yes and yes,” Meisa answered. “After you passed out, he bound her and extracted her voice, destroying it so that it can never be used for evil again. Then the Canadian Ministry showed up, arrested Celine, and brought the three of us back here for treatment. A week later, here we are.”

“A _week_?!” Nakamaru shrieked, sitting up in the hospital bed. Every bone in his body protested the movement, but he didn’t care. “I’ve been unconscious for a _week_?”

“We thought you weren’t coming back,” Kame said in a small voice. “Nurse Lee was going to call your parents after Christmas to… make a decision.”

Nakamaru blinked as he took in all of the relieved faces. “I’m here. I’m fine. Actually I feel like shit, but it will be okay.”

“Now that you’re awake, you can drink these,” Nurse Lee insisted, shoving the rainbow of potions in his face. “One of them will put you to sleep, so your friends will need to leave.”

Ueda and Taguchi waved while Kame clapped him on the wrist, and Meisa gave one last grateful look before disappearing with the others. Nakamaru downed the potions, lay back down, and went to sleep.

When he woke, someone was singing. It was dark and Nakamaru didn’t quite recognize the voice, but he wasn’t apprehensive or ready to defend himself. He didn’t think he could even cast a spell in this condition anyway.

“ _You are safe in my heart, and my heart will go on and on._ ”

Nakamaru burst out laughing, ignoring how much it hurt. “Celine Dion?”

The resulting laugh was familiar. “I thought it was appropriate.”

“Your English is awful,” Nakamaru said fondly. “If you’re going to serenade me, do it in Japanese.”

He received a light punch to the shoulder, and the hovering motion candle illuminated soft brown eyes. “As if I would serenade you. I already killed someone for you. Isn’t that enough?”

“Koki,” Nakamaru said gently. “You’re not a murderer.”

“I don’t care about that,” Koki replied. “I was really angry with myself for letting you get cursed. We all thought you were going to… I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Koki,” Nakamaru said again. “I’m fine. I’m alive. I have my right mind – I think.”

Koki laughed. “How are you feeling? Are you up for a walk?”

“A walk?” Nakamaru scoffed. “I can barely move.”

“You’re a wizard, Yucchi,” Koki pointed out. “You can hover.”

Nakamaru hadn’t hovered since he and Jin used to hover-race in third year, but he found himself hovering next to Koki as they made their way through the deserted hallways of the castle. Two candles led their way and they were probably showing up on every professor’s security radar, but no one was about to stop two of the three class heroes.

They reached the second-floor girls’ bathroom, and Nakamaru wrinkled his nose. “Why-?”

“Don’t ask, just follow,” Koki said gravely, and Nakamaru reluctantly followed him into the bathroom.

It looked like a bathroom. Stalls, sinks, tampon dispensers; Nakamaru stood as close to the exit as he could manage. Koki noticed him keeping his distance, rolled his eyes, and pulled him over to one of the sinks by his arm.

“See this?” Koki asked, pointing to the serpent design on the faucet.

“It’s a snake,” Nakamaru said.

Koki rolled his eyes again. “Yes it is. Ask it to open up.”

“Huh?” Nakamaru turned to look at Koki in disbelief. “ _Ask_ it?”

“Just do it,” Koki said impatiently.

Nakamaru stood in front of the sink, stared at the snake, and hissed at it. He had meant to whisper, but it came out as a hiss. Frantically, he glanced toward Koki, who urged him to go on.

“Sssssshissssu,” Nakamaru said, his eyes widening as the sink moved out of the way to reveal a hole in the floor. “I hope you don’t think I’m going in there.”

Koki grinned at him as he pushed up his sleeves. “This is why you’re in Surii.”

Then he pushed Nakamaru into the hole. Nakamaru screamed his head off as he slid down a long, twisting pipe, that laughing bastard right behind him. Just when he thought he would be at the center of the earth, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and he landed ass first on a mattress.

Five seconds later, Koki landed right on top of him.

“ _Ow_ ,” Nakamaru groaned. “I just woke up from a coma, you know.”

“Be glad I put the mattress here,” Koki told him. “There wasn’t one the first couple times, and I had some explaining to do when people saw me walking funny.”

The elaborate stone walls creaked around them, and there were strange noises in the distance. “Where _are_ we?” Nakamaru asked.

“The kanji for ‘Otaeari’ is etched into the wall over there,” Koki said, pointing. “I guess that’s what it’s called, even if it’s like naming your owl ‘Owl’.”

Nakamaru shivered as the creepy sounds continued. “And the noises?”

Koki shrugged. “Must be the castle settling or something. I’ve been down here a million times and I’ve never seen anyone else. I was surprised that Akanishi knew about it.”

“He never mentioned it before,” Nakamaru said. “I thought we discovered every secret room in this castle.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Koki admitted. “This is where I like to come when I want to be alone. I don’t have much of an opportunity for that with four brothers and four dorm-mates.”

Nakamaru rolled over onto his back and looked at the ceiling. There were designs in the stained glass, like extravagant graffiti. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Akanishi owled while you were… asleep,” Koki muttered. “He explained about the colors of the karameter.”

“Oh?” Nakamaru asked. “I’m surprised Fucker let you intercept my mail.”

“She didn’t give it up easily,” Koki said, cringing at the memory. “I have it in my pocket, but I want to tell you something before you read it.”

Nakamaru cut his eyes over to Koki, who looked more serious than he’d ever seen him. More than when they were battling for their lives just a week ago. “Okay?”

Koki heaved a sigh. “I love you.”

Nakamaru blinked. “Like love-love?”

“Like love-love,” Koki confirmed.

“Like gay love?” Nakamaru teased.

He half expected Koki to punch him, or more likely just yell at him, but the absolute last thing he expected was for Koki to grab him by the face and kiss him. Nakamaru’s arms automatically wrapped around his neck, sliding into the short hair that felt completely different and completely right at the same time.

“And I know you gay-love me too,” Koki whispered against his lips. “Because you said I was red when you looked at me through it, and Akanishi says red is for the people you love.”

“We can’t argue with magic,” Nakamaru mumbled, pulling Koki over to cover his body entirely.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was true. Even if it was less about thought and more about feeling as Koki pressed closer to him with each kiss. Koki made out like he did anything else, with all of his energy and a little bit of suppressed rage. Another reason to be glad for the mattress, particularly when Koki started grinding against him so hard that he bounced back from the pressure.

It felt a lot better than just watching, anyway. It helped that he really did love the guy, an emotion that proved evident as Koki’s hands explored his unflinching body. This kind of intimacy usually made him anxious, but this was _Koki_. Koki had seen everything he had to offer, at his worst, and knew him inside and out. Maybe not _that_ kind of inside, but it was a credit to how strongly Nakamaru felt towards him that he was considering it.

He became even more accustomed to the idea when Koki’s hands slipped down the back of his pants and grabbed his ass. His groan reverberated in his own head, his brain turning into mush from Koki’s persistent tongue in his mouth and rock-hard erection rubbing against Nakamaru’s.

“Yucchi,” Koki mumbled, the syllables buzzing the tip of Nakamaru’s tongue. “I want you.”

Instead of answering verbally, Nakamaru managed to nod while gripping onto Koki’s shoulders like he would drown otherwise. Shaky hands fumbled with the fastenings on his pants and Nakamaru learned that Koki was probably more nervous than he was; he was fiercely reminded that Koki had had much longer than ten minutes to build up his anticipation of this moment.

“Koki,” Nakamaru willed his voice to say. “It’s just me.”

The rushing fingers paused as Koki inhaled against Nakamaru’s cheek. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

This kiss was much calmer, fueled by emotions instead of insistency, and by the time they’d disrobed each other and lay skin to skin, Nakamaru wanted it as much as Koki did. Koki’s fingers slipped between his legs, but all he could do was roll his eyes as Koki whispered the lubrication spell and smirked against his lips, the warm substance instantly coating his way inside.

They melted together, the outside world disappearing as Nakamaru was gently prepared for their inevitable union. When Koki entered him, it was like he was coming home after a long journey, although it also felt like he’d been home the entire time.

Time stood still as they made love, the Otaeari echoing with their moans, which seemed to resound even after they lay in a sweaty pile of limbs, nerves still tingling from their mutual full-body orgasms. Nakamaru could have stayed like that forever, and he already knew that there would be an empty bed in their dorm room from now on.

As Koki started to sing again, thankfully in Japanese, Nakamaru naturally gravitated towards him. The power of love was more seductive than any Bira.

\\\10//

> Dear Jin,
> 
> Sorry I haven’t been responding to your letters. Things have been crazy around here.
> 
> There’s something I need to tell you. Actually, there’s a lot I need to tell you. Are you coming back for New Year’s? It would be much easier to say it in person instead of in a letter. I’m not good with words, as you know.
> 
> Merry Christmas,  
>  Yuichi

“Merry Christmas, Yucchi,” a low voice with a SoCal accent roused Nakamaru from his sleep.

“Jin?” Nakamaru mumbled hopefully, wincing as he failed to stretch under the deadweight lying on top of him.

The deadweight punched him. “Don’t say other dudes’ names when you’re in bed with me,” Koki slurred sleepily.

Nakamaru’s eyes flew open. He saw Jin standing next to his bed, holding back the curtain with an amused look on his face. “No, Koki, Jin is _here_.”

“Don’t fucking care,” said Koki, wrapping his arms more tightly around Nakamaru. “Mine.”

Nakamaru shrugged helplessly at Jin. “He’s possessive when he’s sleeping.”

“Just when he’s sleeping?” Jin asked knowingly, and they both laughed. “I guess this is one of the things you needed to tell me.”

“Ah, yeah,” Nakamaru said. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool.” Jin shrugged. “You two were always gay like that.”

“I’m glad somebody noticed,” Koki muttered.

“I’ll let you wake up,” Jin offered, letting the curtain fall closed and kicking Kame’s bed on his way out.

“Akanishi, I’ll fucking kill you!” Kame screamed after him.

After months of fear and uncertainty, Nakamaru finally felt like the world was back to normal.

An hour later, Jin had donned his Surii robes and joined the others in the Genki Hall, devouring everything he could get his hands on and some things that he _couldn’t_.

“Bommie’s gotten hotter,” he commented through a mouthful of Christmas cake. “Did she gain some weight?”

“In her lips, maybe,” Sawajiri Erika said bitterly, scooting closer. “I don’t know why you waste your time with those foreign bitches, Jin. Japanese girls are-”

Nakamaru paused with his fork to his mouth as some kind of forcefield shocked Erika and electrocuted her to the point of uncontrollable shaking. Meisa and Chaerin rushed to her, pulled her away, and glared at Jin.

“That’s, um.” Jin looked embarrassed, hiding his face with his food. “My girlfriend’s protection charm.”

Ueda choked on his laughter. “She put a _chastity spell_ on you?”

“It’s not a chastity spell!” Jin yelled a little too defensively. “It just keeps other women from touching me.”

Meisa looked interested. “How exactly do you do that?”

“Trust me, no one wants to touch Kato,” Koki assured her, glaring in disgust to where Kato was balancing his plate on his enormous belly that Koyama seemed to be holding a conversation with.

“Holy shit,” Jin said, abandoning his food as he focused on someone more humiliated than he was. “You knocked up Kato.”

“Yeah,” Meisa said proudly. “I love magic.”

Jin returned to stuffing his face, and Kame cringed in annoyance. “Why are you here, anyway? We still have classes.”

“Christmas,” Jin answered. “You’d know if you read my letters. Ass.”

Kame rolled his eyes.

“Akanishi!” roared a voice from halfway across the hall, followed by Yamapi shoving his way through other students to approach the Surii table.

Jin responded by holding up his finger in the universal sign for ‘wait a second’, chugging his lychee juice, and ripping the loudest belch Nakamaru had ever heard. It shook the floors, it was so forceful.

A breeze almost knocked Nakamaru over as Yamapi confiscated his lychee juice, drained it, and followed suit.

“Men,” Chaerin scoffed, making a face.

“Better the Astronomy Tower than the Otaerai!” Taguchi declared happily.

Yamapi grabbed an unfortunate Reikura who happened to be passing by. “Who won?” he demanded of her.

Leah Dizon flipped her hair out of her eyes and regarded them carelessly. “The one with the bigger cock,” she answered simply.

Nakamaru averted his eyes as Jin and Yamapi predictably reached for their belts. Next to him, Koki was gaping incredulously, not at Jin or Yamapi but at Taguchi, looking at him like he had three heads. “You know about the Otaeari?”

“Yeah,” Taguchi replied casually. “It’s where I hide the bodies.”

Koki and Nakamaru’s screams were drowned out by the laughter that erupted when everyone caught sight of the swirly pink PROPERTY OF KE$HA stamp on Jin’s junk.

And up in the Owlery, Eggplant was returning a green feather to his chosen mate.


End file.
